Undercover
by BonesDon'tMelt
Summary: In a world where Hikaris are inferior to Yamis and gender stereotypes are a bit warped, Kaibacorp (led by the infamous Gozobura Kaiba) practically owns the world. But four Hikaris (Fem!Joey, Fem!Yugi, Fem!Malik, and Fem!Ryo) go against the mold (some of them not by choice) and end up meeting their Yami counterparts. Minor romance, focus on friendship (between Joey and Kaiba mainly)
1. Meet the Hikaris (Joey did WHAT?)

AN: Woot! My first actual long fic that I've posted! This's gonna be a big one guys, I've got 144 pages typed already and I don't think I'll be stopping soon. So important things: I'll try to be brief at my beginning of chapter ANs, and the ones that you actually need to read I'll bold so you don't have to read my crap. I'll update this at least once a week. Also, at the end of most (if not all) chapters I'll have a bit of trivia pertaining to this story, some of them are just things I find funny, but others will actually give you some insight into the character's motives and actions, and all will be pretty short so I suggest you read them!

Before anyone asks, I genderflipped the four people I genderflipped not simply because I'm a bigot who doesn't want romance between guys, but because I think it's a lot funnier this way. Also, when I say there's romance, I mean that I don't write romance so there will be mentions of maybe someone dating and two chapters later you'll be like "the heck? Why wasn't that a bigger plot point?" Now you know.

 **12/14/15-VERY IMPORTANT: It's** **been pointed out to me that this fic is suspiciously similar to another called "angel undercover". I'm sorry for the strange similarities, but until I was told I hadn't even heard about this other fanfiction, much less read it. But since it had been pointed out, I would like you all to know that I've had my beta (aka my sister) read this other story (I try not to read from a fandom I'm actively writing in) and I can tell you my story is going a completely different direction. Sorry for the weirdness, I didn't realize something so similar had already been posted...**

 **This message is also posted on chapter 4, because it was between three and four that I was informed of these similarities.**

And as a side note, I don't own and never will own any of the things I write fanfiction about because if I did I'd be riding around on my luxury yacht, not wasting my time embarrassing myself.

So, ladies and gentlemen, Undercover Chapter 1!

* * *

"Aha! I play my red eyes!" Joey yelled, slamming the card enthusiastically onto the table. She really thought she had Yugi this time; she had never been this close before. Her much smaller friend smiled at her.

"Nice move, Joey. I'll play my dark magician," immediately, Joey knew she was in for it. Whenever Yugi pulled out her dark magician, it spelled doom to whoever she was playing against. Not to mention that Yugi's ace monster wasn't even her most powerful and it still had 100 more attack points than Joey's ace monster which _was_ her most powerful. So, in short, she knew she was screwed. Royally. "And attack your red eyes black dragon with dark magic attack, which brings your life points down to zero."

"Ah, not again!" Joey yelled, jumping to her feet, only to fall over anime-style in exasperation.

"Sorry Joey," Yugi said with an apologetic smile, but she knew Joey would have hated to win if she wasn't doing her best. "You're doing a lot better. Do you want to play again?" She asked, holding up her deck of cards. Joey jumped up immediately, her short blond hair bouncing as her whole face turned determined.

"You're on, Yuug!" She shouted, going to grab her deck. Right then, the little bell over the door rang as someone walked into the shop. Yugi jumped nervously as she immediately shoved their desks back behind the counter and Joey pushed the game board off the table, causing it to clatter to the floor. Then she and Yugi stood straight and looked innocently towards the door.

It wasn't exactly illegal, but it was kind of taboo and definitely frowned upon for Hikaris to play such an offensive game as duel monsters, seeing as they were stereotypically weak, prim, proper, and not even capable of thinking about injuring anything. It would make sense, as they were the light part of the soul.

There were two girls standing in the door, one laughing and the other only smiling slightly. The one laughing was obviously of Egyptian decent, with her darker skin and light blond hair. The other looked almost like an angel, pale skin and white hair, not to mention a face as innocent as Yugi's. Yugi sighed in relief, but Joey glared.

"Dang it, Malik! You scared the crap outta me!" She shouted, stomping back behind the counter to pick up the cards that had been scattered when she threw them back. "I thought you were a Yami or somethin'!" Everything that a Hikari was supposed to be, a Yami wasn't. Yamis were people with only the dark part of a soul and they were the more… manly, for lack of a better word, of the two. They were more rambunctious, angrier, less caring, etc. The girl with white hair immediately looked more worried than amused now.

"Maybe you two should be more careful about where you play; anyone could have seen you and the Yamis already don't like Joey," she said quietly. Joey scoffed. She was obviously talking about how Yamis had a hobby of trying to attack Joey, just because she acted more like one of them than a Hikari. It was true too: Ryo, Yugi, and Malik were all Hikaris and they were fairly popular because they fit their mold at least well enough. Ryo was the perfect Hikari, and Yugi's only downfall was liking duel monsters. Malik was a bit more like a normal (someone with both dark and light in their souls) than a Hikari, but that was tolerable.

Joey was a different story entirely. She got in fights, took down almost all the Yamis in the town at least once, and almost never held her tongue. She was outspoken and wouldn't hesitate to insult. This made her hated by Yamis, as no Yami wanted to admit to being defeated by a Hikari, and Hikaris alike because she was giving Hikaris a bad name. Most normals also didn't like her because she could (and used to) beat them up too. No one likes a Hikari with attitude.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, Yuug, did gramps talk to you about duelin' yet?" She asked with a grin. Yugi, for her part, didn't look half as excited. Rather nervous, and very shifty.

"Um, yes…" She muttered, not seeming too keen to talk about it as her eyes darted around from under her blond bangs to make sure no one was there. Her hands were busy twisting the purple tips of her long black hair. Malik and Ryo looked at them in interest.

"And?" Joey prompted with a huge grin, the opposite of Yugi at the moment.

"W-well, I'm not sure…" Yugi muttered. "I mean… How would we cover our marks?" Yugi glanced at Joey's long sleeves, which were covering most of the green tattoo-like designs that she had on both forearms. They had been there since she was born, just as Yugi and Malik's purple ones, and Ryo's blue ones. The colors of the tattoos had told their parents that they were Hikaris and would instantly give them away as such if they tried to duel. Every Hikari and Yami had tattoos on either one or both forearms, Hikaris were calming colors while Yamis were the colors of fire, like red and orange.

"What are you two talking about?" Malik asked finally, tired of not knowing what was going on.

"Um, you see-" Yugi started, but Joey cut her off.

"Yuug and I are gonna go to one a' them duelin' schools. You wanna come? I bet gramps can get you in…" She said, grinning. All she would have to do was get Malik to say yes, because then Ryo would follow her friends into anything.

"You're kidding, right?" Malik asked flatly, obviously not impressed with the tallest of their group. "Yugi has a point; no dueling school would accept a Hikari, much less four."

"I don't think this is a good idea… What if you get caught? Kaibacorp could just… take you away." Ryo whispered, wide-eyed. All four girls sobered up at that. They knew that Ryo's dad had been part of the resistance, a major leader in fact. But that was before he was caught. And when he was, he was taken away and never returned. Joey opened her mouth, perhaps about to impart one of her rare moments of Hikari wisdom, but was interrupted by Yugi's grandfather running into the room.

"Joey, the letters arrived!" He grinned, running over to the tall girl and giving her four letters.

"Thanks, gramps!" She laughed, grabbing the letters and trying to shove them into her denim jacket before any of the others saw the well-known seal. Sadly, Yugi caught a glimpse and recognized it almost instantly. She had dreamed of going there for years.

"Joey, those letters were from the Dueling Academy! They only accept male Yami!" Yugi gasped, causing Joey to laugh nervously while running a hand through her hair.

"What? Yuug, why would I have letters from there? Much less four!" Malik's eyes widened in realization before narrowing in anger.

"JOSEPHINE KATSUMI WHEELER, YOU ADMITTED US ALL TO THE DUELING ACADEMY!" Malik roared, realizing what had happened before the other two. Joey jumped back, torn between yelling back for the use of her real name or hiding behind Yugi because no one would dare hurt her (either for her innocence or the simple fact Joey wouldn't hesitate to murder whoever did it). So she settled on flinching and letting out a few nervous giggles.

"Joey, did you think this through at all?" Yugi sighed. She really did appreciate all that Joey had done just because Yugi loved dueling, and she had no doubt that was why Joey had done it, but sometimes she really didn't think things through.

"Actually, I did." Joey grinned, quite pleased that she had done something right. "Gramps pulled some strings and we all got accepted," she said, pulling out the four letters with a smug grin, "and Ishizu's gonna come over and work some magic-"

"You told my sister about this?!" Malik snarled. This time, Joey did duck slightly behind Yugi, even though she was eight inches taller than her smaller friend's 5 foot frame. It wasn't often that Malik got angry enough to yell at anyone, especially her friends, but when she did she was absolutely terrifying.

"Heh heh, calm down Malik, I got us into the top academy anywhere didn't I? We just need ta see when we start…" She said, grinning to try and calm her down. "It's not like your sister can actually turn us inta boys, she'll just make it look like it…" Despite what Ishizu and Malik said, Joey didn't believe that Ishizu could really do magic.

"You never know…" Malik muttered, sighing in defeat. But she didn't press the issue; when Joey set her mind to something no one could stop her.

Like it or not, they were all going to the academy.

* * *

Interesting factoid 1: The denim jacket Joey always wears is important (and she does wear it almost always, if she's not in the uniform you can assume she has her denim jacket on unless I specify otherwise). She wore a leather one when she was in the gang and the denim was a kind of symbolic graduation from the life she had.


	2. Meet the Heir (The Missing Link)

AN: **I'm going to make Mondays my regular update day.** Not a set time though, and I may sometimes update on other days as well.

The previous chapter's disclaimer applies to this and all other chapters.

* * *

Atem glanced around the dark hallway, making sure that none of Gozobura's henchmen were lingering around. If they kept to their schedule he had ten minutes to get to Seto's room, though sometimes they made surprise rounds so he thought it best not to dilly-dally. He had been doing this for almost half his life, so it wasn't particularly challenging to dodge any people or cameras in the way, though he had to admit that being friends with a kleptomaniac had helped greatly.

He quietly turned the knob and pulled open the door just enough for him to slide in. The room was dark, but he walked forward with no fear of running into anything. Seto was notoriously neat, both because Gozobura demanded it and due to his own personal perfectionism, so his room was spotless.

So he really didn't expect it when his shin hit something hard, sending him to the ground with a noise that sounded impossibly loud in the darkness. He froze, ignoring the pain that was shooting through his leg in favor of listening for any guards that may have heard. After a few long moments, he heard a heavy sigh and then the light turned on.

"I thought Bakura said you were getting better," sneered a voice from near the door. The light was blinding to Atem, but he instantly recognized the voice as his cousin/adopted brother Seto Kaiba.

"Shut up." He growled quietly once his vision cleared. He looked in front of him and scowled at the box that was, for some reason, in the center of the room and now slightly crushed by his fall. Seto ignored him, instead pushing a towel in front of the crack at the bottom of the door to cut off the light from the patrols. "What's this about, Seto?" He asked, standing up after giving the box a deadly glare.

"It was about what's in that box, if you didn't crush it." He said with a cool glare, his normal look.

"It wouldn't have been crushed if it was put away." Atem replied, continuing before Seto had the chance to get really angry. "What's so important about it anyway?"

"It came with this." He replied, tossing a letter to the much smaller man. Atem caught it without a problem and opened it, eyes widening slightly at the message.

"Pictures?" He whispered, torn between confusion, mistrust, and joy.

"And notes, apparently." Seto replied with a nod.

"But how? Who did this?" Atem wondered, now looking at the box in something close to awe. The last time anything like this happened was a few years after getting adopted by Gozobura. They hadn't heard anything since.

Until today.

Only a minute later, both Seto and Atem sat on the bed surrounded by pictures, notebooks, and scribbled notes on torn pieces of paper. Every single picture showed the same person, ranging from three and a half years ago to only a few days.

Mokuba.

He had been taken a little over three years ago by Gozobura as leverage over them both, though mostly Seto. Usually when someone was taken they were never seen or heard from again, but Mokuba was special. Since he was leverage, they had to have proof of life. Every month they would get a picture of the slightly aged raven-haired boy holding the day's paper. He looked so tired and miserable, no identifiable background, nothing to help find him. These were different.

Most of them were in the same room, though the room changed a bit over time. He looked to be living in luxury, but the lack of windows and other useful objects said otherwise. Atem and Seto saw the irony in this, as they were in much the same position. If a random person walked into either of their rooms they would think Seto and Yami to be spoiled rich brats, though either of them would trade it to have Mokuba back in a heartbeat. Less, even.

A lot of the pictures had him in a suit, some where he didn't seem to care how wrinkled it would get if he lay down. That made both boys smile, even just a little. The notebooks were filled to the brim with letters to both Seto and Atem, (mostly to Seto) about how he knew they would come for him, about who he had met and what he did. However, all of the names and several other things were blacked out with a marker, making them impossible to read. This wasn't much to go on, but it was more than they had gotten in ages. Besides, with Seto's expertise and enough time, he could get something to help find Mokuba. Atem had no doubt.

"It isn't much, but it is something." He muttered as he stared at the latest picture. Seto nodded.

* * *

Interesting fact #2: Seto Kaiba and Marik Namu (Ishtar) look like they did in the anime but Atem looks like a mix between Yami Yugi and Pharaoh Atemu (like half instead of full Egyptian) and Bakura also looks like a mix between his Yami and original form. He's ambiguously brown.

Sorry this chapter was so short. The next one is over 2000 words.


	3. Some Kind of Magic

AN: Do you guys know how hard it is for me not to just post all the chapters I have one a day?! GRAH! But I _can't_ because if I _did_ I would post them faster than I'm writing them and then the wait would be even worse and I'd feel even more guilty for making you guys wait!

* * *

It was morning, three days after Joey had received the letters from the Academy. Joey, Malik, Bakura, and Yugi were all at Yugi's house (dressed in the Academy's uniform which had been fitted to them by Malik instead of having them look weird wearing boy's clothes), along with Ishizu Ishtar, Malik's older sister. Ishizu was currently explaining the "glamour" that she was going to place on them to make them look like boys.

"It will not actually make you male; you will only appear to be. So Josephine, you must be careful when you get into fights." She said calmly, making Joey jump up with a scowl.

"My name's Joey! And what makes ya think I'll get inta fights?!" She demanded, glaring. Only two people called her by her full name all the time: her mother and Ishizu. But it wasn't for lack of trying to get them to stop. Ishizu merely sighed.

"Perhaps that." She commented, making the blond turn red in embarrassment and plop back onto the couch with an annoyed grumble. "The glamour wears off fairly quickly, so you will have to return here every two days for me to renew it." She said sternly. Joey groaned, head falling back. "You were the one who asked me here, Josephine." Joey growled slightly at the use of her name before glaring at the older Ishtar sibling.

"Well yeah, but I didn't know it was a long-term commitment!" She complained. "Can we hurry it up a little?"

"We do have to go soon." Yugi offered meekly, seeing Ishizu about to retort. "We have to get there a little early so we can talk to the headmaster, and then meet the students assigned to show us around. I really hope they're nice…"

"Yuug, they're _Yamis_ , of course they're not nice." Joey scoffed.

"Joey, your mother is a Yami." Malik pointed out. Joey shrugged.

"Yep. And see how she turned out?" She smirked slightly. Joey and her mother didn't get along very well.

"Enough." Ishizu cut in before Joey could start yelling again. "I will cast the glamour now, but I need absolute silence." She said, closing her eyes and muttering words under her breath as her hands moved methodically around. The four watched her work in silence, but felt no different even when she opened her eyes and said she had finished. That is, until they looked at each other.

"NYA!" Joey shouted, practically vaulting off the side of the couch in surprise, causing her to land ungracefully on her back. Her friends were definitely as surprised as her, but took the more calm approach. Yugi merely blinked a few times in confusion before shifting nervously on her seat. Ryo just stared, wide-eyed until Malik's quiet "whoa" broke her out of it.

The only thing that had really changed about Yugi was her hair, as she was sadly lacking in curves (her chest was flattened minutely but anyone able to tell the difference was staring too hard and Joey would kill them) and apparently the spell didn't take having a cute face into account. Her hair was now fairly short and in a sticky-upy hairstyle and her blonde bangs now resembled lightning bolts rather than just being straight as before.

Ryo's hair was to just below her ears rather than mid-back, but in the same style of tame white clumps. Her chest was flattened and her small but ample curves were erased and replaced with a blockier build. Basically the same thing happened to Malik, but her hair went to her shoulders and was smoother.

Joey seemed to change the most; though her hair was in the same poofy cut, even if it was much more neatly trimmed (it used to be to mid-back but she had cut it off herself after one fight when it almost made her lose, since no one would cut a girl Hikari's hair that short. It was also social taboo, but Joey was never one to follow the rules that weren't in her favor. Ryo and Yugi made her let them fix it up a bit afterwards though), her body had changed a lot. She was the girliest-looking of the group in body shape, meaning she had the largest curves and such, which she found hideously ironic because she would have much rather just been a boy. Even though she often bound her chest for ease of fighting (as much as she protested, she did know she was prone to it) and wore men's clothes, or at least just baggy. The uniform to the Academy was nothing if not made to impress, meaning even mentioning the word baggy may make the tailor (yeah, they were personally tailored) strangle you with it.

Looking at all of the finished creations however, no one would have pinpointed Joey as a girl at all. The spell would change everything other than the user's face/head and while Yugi, Ryo, and Malik all had very feminine faces making them seem like Bishi males, Joey had a rather masculine face making her seem like a very masculine male. Also very ironic. But she did think that they all looked rather nice in the long-sleeved red jacket, white button-up long-sleeve shirt, and black slacks that made up the uniform.

And, even though Malik had re-tailored them to fit each of them as girls (much to Joey's dismay), the spell seemed to have taken that into account and their uniform now appeared to fit their new bodies perfectly.

"You may wish to check if the second spell worked before leaving." Ishizu remarked as Joey cheerfully started towards the door, referring to the slight altering of their tattoos. They all immediately did as told, rolling up their sleeve (or sleeves for Joey) and making sure that they were all a red color and slightly altered from what they would usually look like. The shape of the tattoos held great significance, so if they left them as they were and someone saw them it may have ended badly. Or at least in an extremely awkward way.

An hour later they found themselves staring up at the huge, castle-like building. Joey, for one, was totally pumped. The others didn't seem so excited. Ryo and Yugi looked about ready to puke, but Malik looked indifferent with a little hint of a smile on her face. She had always been the bookworm type, so learning at the best school around would be fantastic.

"Maybe we should just leave…" Ryo suggested, feeling sick to the stomach. Yugi nodded in agreement, looking kind of green.

"Yeah, I mean… There are a whole lot of Yamis in there…" Yugi gulped. She had a slight fear of Yamis, probably due to how generally they treated everyone else like lower life forms, but mostly all of the stories of how Yamis always got revenge on anyone who pissed them off no matter the cost. Usually she wouldn't believe such things about anyone, but seeing as a lot of said revenge plots had been against Joey, and she'd been caught in the middle of several, she had some rather convincing experience.

"Don't worry, guys! I'll take care of anyone that picks on ya. Just tell ol' Joey." She said with a huge smile, as that was pretty much her whole role in the little group. "Besides Yuug, while we're here, ya might just find your _soul mate_." Joey said teasingly, knocking Yugi a little with her elbow as she winked. Yugi's whole face turned red and she looked down in embarrassment. Joey was referring to the tattoos again; they had more of a purpose than just to tell Hikaris from Yamis. Since both only had one half of a soul, they literally had one true soul mate that had the other half of their soul. When a Yami and a Hikari were soul mates generally they would have identical tattoos on opposite arms, the only difference between them being the colors. That was why Ishizu had to tweak the tattoos; it would be pretty awkward to find your soul mate and for them to think you're a Yami.

"Can we just hurry up and leave already?" Malik sighed, getting bored. "We're supposed to have the meeting in five minutes and I'm willing to bet Joey doesn't know the way." That caused the other two to look at Joey expectantly. She was currently digging through her bag, almost frantically throwing things out of it, muttering about maps and sure she had it… the other three sighed, Ryo with a little sweat drop on the side of her head. "Do you mean this?" Malik finally asked, holding up a folded brochure.

"Hey! How'd you get that!?" Joey demanded, jumping up and glaring at her friend. Somehow, her bag was repacked and next to her feet once more.

"You left it on the counter." Malik sighed, opening it and mentally marking a path to the headmaster's office. The other two's heads dropped slightly. That definitely sounded like Joey. Why were they trusting her plan to not get them taken away again? "Come on, this way."

A few minutes later, they stood in front of the headmaster's office.

"I coulda done that," Joey sulked slightly. Ryo patted her arm sympathetically, Yugi shot her a sympathetic look, and Malik ignored her in favor of opening the door.

"Ah, the new students!" Called a voice that Joey could only find one word (other than the initial _pansy_ ) to describe: Flouncy.

The four shared slightly disturbed looks before proceeding into the room. In front of them was a man sitting in a plush red-velvet chair, he was pale and his silver hair fell in curtains, covering half of his face. He had a huge smile and his brown eyes seemed to be glittering. In truth, he kinda freaked Joey out.

"Yeah, that's us." Joey finally replied, seeing that Yugi and Ryo had suddenly gone into shy mode and Malik was just staring at the man.

"I'm the headmaster, Pegasus J. Crawford. Just call me Mr. Crawford!" He said cheerfully, noting how Joey's eye twitched and she stepped back a bit before recomposing herself.

"Yes sir." Ryo and Yugi replied meekly.

"Sure." Malik said, waving her hand in dismissal.

"Can I call ya PJ?" Joey asked with a grin, hoping to catch him off-guard and drop his nice act. Because there was no way a bunch of Yamis listened to this guy if he really acted like this.

"Hm. Of course," Mr. Crawford said, his eyes flashing sinisterly and his smile turning more smirk-like for just a moment. But no one noticed. Joey blinked in confusion before shrugging. Maybe he was just really good at Duel Monsters. Yamis listened to people who were really good at duel monsters, as long as they were Yamis too.

 **Random POV change to third person limited Pegasus**

"I'm sure you know you came into this school a few weeks late." He started, seeing how the three others sent the tallest a look.

"I can't do ev'rythin'!" The tallest hissed back, glaring at the smaller boys. The second tallest, the obviously Egyptian one, rolled his eyes while the other two gave the blond apologetic looks. He raised his eyebrow at the strange behavior of the two smaller boys; they really didn't look like Yami material.

"This isn't a problem, but you will have to make up the missed work." He once again watched how they responded carefully. The tall dirty-blond that seemed to slip in and out of a Brooklyn accent rolled his eyes and groaned. The light blond Egyptian once again replied with a disinterested "sure". But the smaller two, the pale one with white hair and the even shorter one with tri-colored hair, said in very meek voices "yes sir".

The Brooklyn blond would fit right in here. He was slightly rude, his uniform was unbuttoned and messy, he seemed to think he was above school work, etc. The other three were surprising. They looked very… female, and generally when a Yami male looked female they were horribly mean to make up for it as the other Yamis would pick on them. The Egyptian would fit in fairly well; he was more impartial than of strong opinions, but not like a push-over Hikari. He wore his uniform right, but it was a bit rumpled as if he didn't care what anyone else thought, definitely Yami-like. It was the last two that had him a bit worried. They were small, they were wearing their uniforms correctly and neatly, they were _polite_ for heaven's sake! They acted like Hikaris rather than Yamis, and the Yamis here would chew them up and spit them out. The only hope that they may have in this school was that they're great at duel monsters, as that's a huge part in gaining respect in a dueling school.

"The students that will be escorting you today should be outside by now." He said cheerfully, gesturing towards the door. Taking that as their cue to leave, the Brooklyn blond led the way out of the door.

* * *

Interesting fact #3: On the topic of "soul mates". The phase has a very romantic connotation, but two soul mates aren't necessarily romantic, sometimes they're just best friends.


	4. Hatred Between Friends

AN: You guys are getting this chapter a bit early because of this _**VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:**_

 **It's been pointed out to me that this fic is suspiciously similar to another called "angel undercover". I'm sorry for the strange similarities, but until I was told I hadn't even heard about this other fanfiction, much less read it. But since it had been pointed out, I would like you all to know that I've had my sister read this other story (I try not to read from a fandom I'm actively writing in) and I can tell you my story is going a completely different direction. Sorry for the weirdness, I didn't realize something so similar had already been posted...**

 **(I'll be putting this on the first chapter too, for an explanation)**

* * *

Standing outside were four people who seemed to be waiting for them. They were all annoyingly tall, other than the one with tri-toned starfish hair and slightly tinted skin that hinted at his Egyptian heritage, who was only about two inches taller than Yugi (If you didn't count his hair). Another looked like an angry, messy, Ryo with ambiguously brown skin. He was scowling and his hair was as long as Ryo's actually was, he was also about two inches taller than Joey. The third was Egyptian like Malik, the same light blond hair in a messier, gravity defying cut and his eyes were narrowed menacingly, though that seemed like his normal look. He was only about an inch taller than Joey. The last was like six foot two, slender, and checking his watch, his dark brown eyes apathetic and his brown hair neatly cut.

The only one actually wearing the uniform perfectly was the tall brunette. The shortest one had his coat on like a cape and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows (the tattoo on his left arm looked familiar to Joey, but she couldn't quite place it), the white-haired one's was unbuttoned and messy like Joey's, and the Egyptian's was unbuttoned, as well as the first few dress shirt buttons.

"Ah, there they are." The shortest said, straightening up and smiling at the four newcomers, three of which seemed to be hiding behind the tall blond.

"About time." The white-haired Yami said rudely.

"Well, sorry PJ got a bit chatty." Joey sneered, shoving her hands in her pockets. Seeing that the Yami was going to reply rudely and probably get Joey to start yelling, Yugi hurried forward.

"I'm Yugi! This is Ryo, Malik, and Joey." She said hurriedly. Ryo waved meekly, Malik waved distractedly as she took in her surroundings, and Joey merely scoffed while inclining her head a bit. "What are your names?"

"I'm Atem." The short one replied, seemingly the only one who had any interest in even trying to be civil towards them. "This is Bakura, Marik, and Seto." He gestured to each in turn, Bakura giving them suspicious looks, Marik scoffing and turning away, and Seto merely nodding impassively. "We're going to show you around the school and then you'll each come with one of us to all of our classes," he said. Joey didn't like this plan at all. So far, the only one she would even consider trusting her friends to was Atem, maybe Seto if he could show that he wasn't a robot. "Come on, we'll start with the cafeteria." At this Joey perked up, causing her friends to smile fondly, Atem to chuckle, and Seto to scoff. Joey instantly glared at him.

Usually she would be halfway to the lunchroom by now, having forgotten everything else she was supposed to be doing, but being in a school full of Yamis that she wouldn't trust as far as she could throw was making her nervous and hyperaware. Which came in handy a moment later, as they were walking towards their destination. Atem was talking about what they were passing, though only Ryo, Yugi, and Malik seemed to be listening at all. Malik did like learning, though Joey wasn't sure why. So they were walking, Joey's senses all on high as if she was back in her gang instead of in school, when Bakura walked casually by Yugi. Usually Joey wouldn't have seen a thing, but she knew what had just happened. That white-haired idiot had just pick-pocketed her friend.

She reached out and clasped Bakura's shoulder from behind, glaring with one of her more high-grade melt-your-head glares. Her friends all watched with wide eyes and Bakura's watched with theirs narrowed as they all stopped and the two glared at each other.

"Give it back." She growled. Bakura smirked.

"Give what back?" He mocked, hand stealthily dropping whatever it was in his pocket.

"Joey, what's this about?" Atem asked sternly, stepping forward.

"Bakura just pick-pocketed Yuug." She growled again, tightening her grip so it had to be painful but Bakura showed nothing other than slight surprise at being caught. The three other girls gasped or blinked in surprise as the boys looked at Joey with grudging respect. Bakura was a kleptomaniac and had been pick pocketing since he was a kid, so he was pretty much an expert. It was pretty darn impressive that Joey had caught him, even if it did make the other boys wonder somewhat about her.

"My deck's gone!" Yugi cried after checking her pockets. Joey growled, about ready to sock Bakura and then take the deck back herself, but was stopped by Bakura himself.

"Huh. Whatever, here it is." He muttered, pulling the deck out of his pocket and throwing it to Yugi who fumbled it before placing it carefully in her pocket and smiling at Bakura. Joey pulled her fist back, about to show him a thing or two about what happens when someone picks on her friends, but was stopped by Yugi.

"Joey, he gave it back! Don't hit him!" She yelled, running over and looking pleadingly at her friend. Joey, despite looking like she really wanted to sock him, let go and merely glared.

"Good dog." Seto muttered under his breath with a small, almost unnoticeable, smirk.

"What'd you just say?" Joey snarled at the tall Yami.

"Calm down, Mutt." He said impassively, only making Joey angrier. As soon as he said that word, there was a spark of near-panic in Joey's eyes, as if she was afraid that Seto knew something that she didn't want him to. Which he didn't, but he liked that look. "Mutt" would forever be the blond's nickname, and he made a mental note to smirk knowingly when he said it.

"My name ain't Mutt, rich-boy! It's Joey!" She shouted, but Seto didn't so much as flinch. Atem, seeing how badly this could go and deciding (unlike Marik and Bakura) that he didn't want it to go that way, stepped in. It took almost a full minute, but he managed to get everyone moving and continued the tour. The Yamis did notice, however, that they seemed to be banished to the left side of the hall and Joey was standing firmly between them and her friends. Atem found this amusing, but he seemed to be more on her good side than the others so he didn't laugh for fear of incurring her wrath.

After the tour was done, which involved several more moments of Joey shouting, it was finally time for them to pair off and go to class. Joey, who didn't like this idea in the first place, now hated it even more as there was only one in the group of four Yamis that she may even consider trusting her friends to. She didn't want any of the other three alone with them.

She made the executive decision that Ryo, being the most delicate in her group, would go with the only person she maybe trusted: Atem. Then she decided that she would go with Bakura because anyone else would miss if they had been pick pocketed and she didn't want him stealing another deck. For some reason the two Egyptians decided to pair off, leaving Yugi (the shortest) and Seto (the tallest).

Joey may have found this amusing, had she not already hated the tall boy with a passion.

Luckily, they all had the first class together. They were brought in, introduced, and made to sit next to the people they were paired with (much to Joey's chagrin). Oh, and Seto and Joey figured out each other's last names and started referring to each other as such. First class was math, which Joey totally thought was ridiculous because it was a dueling school. Seto, being the smart-arse know-it-all he is, decided to take it upon himself to explain to the "Mutt" that dueling school didn't mean only dueling, just that it was a large part of the curriculum. All of the Hikaris-turned-Yami had interesting reactions to the fact that their school books were in prime condition, the school looked like a palace, and none of the chairs creaked.

Hikari schools weren't exactly high-class.

The teacher was rather young, seeming to be in his early twenties. He had wild black hair that he kept in check with a ponytail and a strange headband, along with one ear pierced with a dangly-dice earring. He seemed to like probability a lot, especially when it was in his favor. Joey didn't like him; he was too overconfident and annoying. His name was Duke Devlin, and he didn't seem to like Joey much either.

The second class didn't go much better. On the upside, Yugi was there. On the downside, Bakura was too. Also on the downside, none of the other friends where there. On the really really really downside, Seto also had the class. But currently Yugi and he were a package, so Joey really shouldn't have been so surprised. Another reason it sucked was that it was language arts, and Joey simply didn't read. At all. Like, seriously. Good news was that Bakura seemed just as bored, but he entertained himself by annoying Joey.

This didn't sit well with the teacher, Anzu Mazaki, a Yami woman in her early twenties with a huge attitude. She was shorter than Joey and her brown hair was styled in an A-bob of sorts that would get you glared at if you were a Hikari. And she yelled quite loudly, as Joey found out.

Third was phys. Ed. This was probably the best class of the day, in Joey's opinion, even if only Ryo (and therefore Atem) was able to join her and Bakura. Atem, Bakura, and Joey were all extremely good at all of the physical side of things, and at one point Joey picked up Ryo and ran carrying her because she was being too slow. This caused instant amusement in the Yami students and teacher alike, though Ryo had turned cherry red.

This teacher was her favorite so far, but that wasn't exactly hard to beat. She was a female Yami, a bit taller than Joey, who had an hourglass figure and cascading blond hair. Her name was Mai Valentine, which made Joey laugh. That revealed the best thing about her though, as instead of yelling at Joey, she had laughed too. Finally, a teacher with a sense of humor! In the back of her mind, there was a little niggling feeling, like she was forgetting something important, but she shrugged it off.

The last class before lunch was science. Not really Joey's best class, but not her worst either. Seto and Yugi were in the class too. The teacher was one of _those_ teachers. You know, the ones who hate kids and teach just to see if they can make the students cry? Yeah, that describes Ushio pretty perfectly. They were learning about the solar system or something like that, so Joey wasn't really paying attention. She did fall out of her seat when Ushio shouted her name for not paying attention, though. Then she spent the rest of the class trying to be inconspicuous because, while she wasn't sure, she could have sworn that person behind her had been in her gang.

"Aww man, my back still hurts!" She whined as they tromped out of the classroom. "That's the second time today!"

"Maybe if you had been paying attention, that wouldn't have happened, Mutt." Seto scoffed.

"Yeah, well, whatever Money-bags. I don't even see why we need to know that the gravity on the moon is only a sixth of earth's." She muttered, throwing in one of the few things that she had managed to pick up just to prove Seto wrong. "It's not like we're ever gonna go there. Now let's go, I'm hungry!" She said, picking up the pace as she marched ahead.

"Other direction, Mutt." Seto said almost smugly when Joey reached a hall and turned left. Joey spun around and glared.

"I knew dat!" She snapped. "I was takin' the scenic route!" Seto merely scoffed quietly as she stomped past again, Bakura looking amused and Yugi running over to keep up with her friend.

"Wrong direction."

"SHUT IT KAIBA!"

* * *

Factoid #4: I was gonna pass the Hikaris and Yamis looking like each other off as a side effect of having two bits of the same soul, but then I remembered that Joey and Kaiba look nothing like each other, and neither do any of the side character soul pairs like Joey's parents. Plus it would take out the hilarity of Joey trying to keep Kaiba from seeing her tattoos as all they would have to do was see if they looked like each other. Boring!


	5. Old Friends

When they finally got to the cafeteria, ten shut up Kaiba's later, they found Malik, Marik, Atem, and Ryo waiting just outside the doors for them.

"What took you so long?" Marik asked as soon as they were within earshot. No one replied verbally, but Seto smirked and Joey glared at him before turning to Ryo. That gave everyone else pretty much all the answers they needed.

"So Ryo, have any trouble?" She asked, putting an arm around her meek friend. She didn't bother asking Yugi, who wouldn't tell her even if there was.

"Um, no…" She said, shifting uneasily. Joey nodded like she knew that nothing would happen.

"Good! How about you Malik? Probably knew the whole curriculum already." Joey asked, then sticking out her tongue.

"Just because some of us are smart…" Malik sighed, shaking her head at the way Joey was blatantly ignoring the boys as they got into the lunch line. They continued talking as they moved forward and grabbed trays.

"Have you met Mai Valentine? Now there's a teacher!" Joey laughed. Everyone but Yugi said they had met her, already having been to Phys. Ed. class (other than Malik who had run into her during passing period).

"Do you guys know what classes you have after lunch?" Malik asked as the boy behind the counter gave her a sandwich.

"Oh, uh, I-" Joey stumbled, trying to remember.

"JOEY?!" A voice suddenly yelled, making Joey's head snap up. Her eyes widened as she recognized the pointy brown hair in front of her.

"TRISTAN?!" She demanded, leaping backwards in shock and almost dropping her half-filled trey.

"What are you doing here? This-" Tristan yelled, cutting off abruptly when Joey recovered from her shock and glared fiercely at him. "I-I mean, I didn't think you were that into dueling." He stuttered, trying and failing to make it look like that was his objection all along. Basically the whole cafeteria had turned to look at the shouting between the two newly reunited friends.

"Don't you have somethin' better ta do?!" Joey demanded, sending almost everyone back to eating as she turned and hissed at Tristan. "The usual spot. 7 good?" She asked. Tristan nodded.

"You better tell me what this is all about." He said warningly. She nodded, but he spoke up again. "And you might want to stay away from that corner of the cafeteria." He said, gesturing to the back left.

"Oh? Why's that?" She asked, turning to look. And when she did, she almost dropped her tray again. "Darn it! Why are they here?! They hate duelin'!" She hissed, seeing her old gang, the whole group, sitting at a table. Tristan shrugged.

"You're holding up the line, Mutt." Seto said from behind her. She turned and sneered.

"Oh yeah? Well I'm talkin' ta my buddy Tristan so you can just buy your lunch somewhere else, rich-boy." Tristan paled at the sight of the person Joey had chosen to make her enemy. Of course it had to be the son of Gozobura Kaiba. Joey really hadn't gotten smarter in the time they were apart. Next thing Joey knew, Tristan had leapt over the counter and put her in a headlock.

"You idiot! Do you know who that is? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" He demanded, only loud enough for Joey to hear.

"NYA! Fine, I'll move!" She cried, managing to pry herself away. "But we're talkin' about this later Tristan." She shot him a warning look and then walked away with her tray to join her fellow fakers.

"Joey, who was that?" Yugi asked as Joey sat down, grumbling.

"Huh? Oh, dat was Tristan Taylor. I knew him during middle school, but he moved away a year ago. Dunno how he got a job here, of all places." She said, rolling her eyes. Just then, all of the boys came and sat down as well, causing Joey to scowl and inch away slightly. Bakura grinned at her distain. Yugi and Ryo smiled uncertainly at them, which only made Joey angrier. She did not want her friends to fall prey to these… these... Yamis! She wasn't sure what they had in mind, but she sure as heck didn't trust them. Seto opened his mouth to say something as well, but he and everyone else on his side of the table was silenced when someone walked up behind Joey.

"Hey new guy, I'm Hirutani." A gruff voice said from behind, making Joey stiffen. She would know that voice anywhere, she just hoped he didn't recognize her. And based on Yugi's face, she knew who it was as well.

"You look familiar!" A high-pitched male voice chipped in. It almost made Joey flinch.

"I don't know you." She replied without looking up, taking a swig of her milk.

"We have a group, and we thought you might want to join." Hirutani said. Joey mentally bashed her head into the table. Was she just a magnet for things like this? 'Cause it seemed to happen a lot more than was strictly necessary! She ignored them. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" He bellowed, grabbing her hair and yanking it back. She made quite the amusing little squeak before glaring up at him. He looked upside-down from her point of view, and she scowled at the annoyingly familiar face. Yugi jumped up, ready to defend her older friend, but Joey spoke before she could, hoping to get out of this with a gentle refusal.

"Why would I wanna join a weak group like you?"

Oops.

The buff Yami scowled and yanked on her hair. The force pulled her off the bench and most of the Yamis just watched to see what Joey would do, as this would be a deciding factor in popularity. Instead of falling to the ground pitifully, like they had expected, they watched with respect as she used her foot to push off the table and kick Hirutani in the face. This put undue strain on her scalp, but made Hirutani let go. Sadly, the effect was slightly ruined when, instead of landing in a crouch after completing a full 360 turn, Joey ended up on her face. She jumped up almost immediately, however, and the gang didn't have time to get the drop on her. The fight was short, but extremely painful on both sides. It would have been long and even more painful (as it was the whole gang against Joey and Joey wasn't about to give up) but a muscle-bound man reached in and pulled Joey out of the thick of it, laughing loudly as she continued to thrash.

When she realized about five seconds later that she was out of the fight and it was still happening (the gang didn't seem to notice that they were attacking each other) she laughed with him as he put her down.

"I'm Mako Tsunami!" He bellowed, shoving his hand out for her to shake. There was a beat in which Joey blinked in a vaguely shocked manner, before the usual grin overtook her face.

"I'm Joey Wheeler, nice ta meecha!" She replied, accepting and shaking their hands rambunctiously. Neither of them even seemed to realize the fight going on in the background or the newfound respect that Joey had from the other Yamis.

"Joey! Are you alright?" Yugi asked, running over to her friend along with Ryo and Malik.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! I haven't had that much fun in a long time!" Joey cheered, really getting into the whole "Yami" thing. But it was true, this was one of the many reasons she wasn't a very good Hikari. She absolutely loved fighting.

"Fun?" Ryo asked, hardly believing her ears.

"Yeah! I-"

"Joey, if you don't get over here I'm gonna eat your food!" Bakura yelled, as he was sitting right next to her plate.

"GET AWAY FROM MY FOOD!"

* * *

Interesting fact #5: Just a funny tidbit, Joey and Tristan are best friends but both think the other is a complete idiot.


	6. Missing Memos

AN: Wow guys, I really suck at getting these things out early. I mean, I've been awake since like 6 this morning and I don't post till 8 in the afternoon? Jeeze, I'm such a scatter-brain I didn't even remember it was Monday until about an hour ago.

* * *

"Do we hafta go to class?" Joey whined just after lunch ended. Bakura had no more classes with the other three, so she wouldn't see Ryo, Yugi, or Malik until after school. And that, in her book, was all it took to make skipping worth it. And none of the teachers so far were any good other than Mai Valentine, so what was to say that the others weren't horrible as well? Besides, technically she and the other three Hikaris were starting tomorrow as they were just following people around today, so even if she did skip it wouldn't break her "never once miss a day of school" record since middle school.

"Hm…" Bakura hummed and Joey immediately perked up.

"You got a plan. What is it?" She demanded.

"Why should I tell you?" He smirked back.

"Well if it has to do with leavin' this sorry dump behind, I won't tell if you don't." He seemed to consider this before a feral grin spread across his features. It almost worried Joey that she wasn't afraid of that grin at all.

"We would just have to get to the west wing without being spotted. Have any ideas?"

And with that, something akin to friendship (though not quite so friendly) was formed.

* * *

"Joey! Where were you all day?" Yugi asked worriedly after school when her blond friend and Bakura walked up from the completely wrong direction.

"At the arcade." Joey answered without a care in the world. Honestly, this was probably the best day she had had in a long time.

"You skipped school?" Ryo asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Hey! We weren't even goin' ta our classes today so it doesn't count!" She retorted.

"I thought you hated Bakura." Malik pointed out as said boy walked towards his own friends.

"Eh," Joey said noncommittally. Honestly, after he showed her the easy way off campus she felt like she owed him something, so she didn't mention it when she noticed him pick several people's pockets for loose change. The guy really was good at it.

Her three friends looked at her in confusion for a moment before Yugi shook it off.

"Well, you missed the announcement. There's going to be a huge Duel Monster's tournament tomorrow, with everyone in the school."

"WHAA?!" She shouted, jumping backwards in surprise. As much of a face she put up, Joey was pretty sure that she sucked at Duel Monsters. Granted she had only ever played Gramps and Yugi, but she had never once won a game.

Never.

"It's supposed to test our weaknesses and skills, and they had one at the beginning of the year too, so they'll be comparing how far everyone got from last time." Malik confirmed.

"You're kiddin'!" Joey yelled, but Yugi shook her head.

"Nope. We'd better get to the dorm, though. We need to make sure our decks are set up." Ryo paled, as if just realizing something.

"Yugi… I've never played Duel Monsters…" she admitted quietly.

Well crap.

* * *

The dorm was pretty big, which made sense due to there being four people sharing it. It was more like a large apartment than anything, which only made Joey hate Yamis more. They got all the good stuff!

Immediately after getting there, Joey and Yugi started coaching Ryo and Malik on how to play Duel monsters. Both had a rudimentary idea, and Malik had even played a few times. However, neither really knew the deep mechanics of the game. Time seemed to fly, and before they knew it three and a half hours later it was six thirty. Joey just about had a heart attack at that, grabbing her denim jacket, as she was in her casual wear, and running out the door while yelling something about using the car.

* * *

Tristan looked up at the tiny tree house in slight exasperation; it had been the place that Tristan and Joey met in secret since they had become friends. Which was kind of sad, as it seemed to have been built for five year olds, based on the furniture and size. But that didn't matter because they were the only ones who knew about it. It was in the middle of a public forest but hardly anyone went out this far, and even if they did they wouldn't bother to look high enough into the trees to see it. He had always sort of wondered how Joey had found it, but never asked.

Knowing Joey, the answer would probably scar him for life.

Regardless, it was their personal sanctuary. They always went here if something went sour, or if something important had to be explained, and called the other on their cell phones. They had wanted to buy one exclusively for the tree house back when Joey first showed it to him, but they both knew neither had the money.

It was almost funny to Tristan that he had hardly ever called Joey here; it was almost always Joey in trouble that caused the meeting even if he did call it anyway. Not that it was Joey's fault. He knew she had it hard enough being a girl and a Hikari especially with her personality, but with her drunken dad and a mom that hated her it was even worse. And now, for some reason, she was crusading as a boy, and a Yami no less! Joey had always been an all or nothing sort of girl.

And with that thought, he climbed up the tree to the small house.

* * *

Joey sprinted through the trees, pushing herself to go faster and reach the tree house. She was already late, not that Tristan would expect her on time, but there was a reason that Tristan had done so well in the gang before he got out of it and she really didn't want to invoke his wrath.

Finally she reached her destination, and then smiled up at the small tree house. In a childhood filled with memories of her parents shouting at one another, this was the one place that she had always managed to get some peace. She had run away when she was five with the intention of never coming back, at least until she got lost in the woods and started crying for mommy.

Unsurprisingly, mommy didn't come.

But she did find the tree house, and she marked the way to it as best she could. Whenever they started yelling or dad got too drunk, she and Serenity would head out here with a healthy supply of potato chips and water and just wait a few hours, or even spend the night.

That is, until Serenity left.

Shaking off the memories with a slight frown, Joey climbed up the tree towards the small house.

* * *

Factoid #6: In the last chapter, the reason Tristan is so surprised to find Joey in a Yami males dueling school (besides the obvious) is that, to put it simply, Joey sucks at games. For instance, fighting is something that Joey excels at but in a fighting game Tea could beat him. So since she sucks at almost all things games Tristan assumes she'll suck at duel monsters.


	7. The Tournament Part 1

"So what'd you all think of those new kids?" Marik asked, leaning back in his chair boredly.

"Those first three are wimps, but Joey seems like a decent fighter. I might actually be able to teach him something," Bakura said with a pointed look at Atem, to whom he had been trying (and failing) to teach the delicate art of pick pocketing.

"He may be a good guard dog, but the Mutt's got no brains. I doubt he could be sneaky," Seto scoffed, ignoring the little pull in the back of his mind that he had been experiencing all day, since Joey showed up, instead focusing on dissing the blond. There was no way he was going soft.

"And aren't the best thieves usually ones that you don't expect?" Atem pointed out after giving his cousin an unimpressed look. "I know that Ryo can be very quiet." He said, reflecting back on Physical Education where, when they walked into the room, Atem had looked away for a moment only to find Ryo had somehow appeared next to Joey without him noticing.

"It looked like they were all hiding behind the tall one." Marik supplied, not even bothering to remember their names. A creepy grin spread over his features. "I wonder what they're afraid of…"

"Probably you, if you look at them like that." Atem said dryly. "We should all go to sleep, there's the Duel Monsters Tournament tomorrow, and we don't know who we'll be paired up with or how good they are at dueling." He pointed out logically, stowing away his cards that he had been going through during the conversation and heading towards his room with a slight wave. The others sighed in annoyance before following suit.

* * *

Yugi awoke the next morning feeling excited and nervous at the same time. This was the first time she would ever play anyone other than Grandpa or Joey, and it was in a tournament! She jumped up and pulled on her uniform after taking a shower, then looked at the time. She still had about an hour, so it was time to wake the others. She really didn't want to have to wake Joey…

"Ryo… Ryo, wake up, it's time to get ready for school." She said, shaking the taller girl. Even looking like a boy, Ryo looked even more like an angel while she was sleeping and Yugi smiled as she finally stirred.

"Yu…gi?" She muttered in confusion, yawning slightly and rubbing her eyes. Yugi was almost temped to squeal and hug her; she looked adorable! Malik probably would have if she was awake, and Joey would look away and turn pink. There was no way she'd put her reputation on the line like that.

"So cute!" Someone squealed, half-tackling the sleepy girl back onto the bed. Yugi blinked in surprise. So it seemed Malik was up after all. She really shouldn't have been, so surprised that is, because Malik was always first to arrive at their old school and never really seemed tired about it.

Now, to wake the bear.

Yugi stood beside Joey's bed and just stared, hoping that by some miracle she would just wake up on her own. The other two joined her a few minutes later. None of the other girls had ever had to wake her up before, not counting during or after class anyway, so they had no idea how she would react. Knowing Joey, though… It wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.

"Uh, Joey?" Yugi asked finally, hoping that might wake her up. Much to the immense surprise of everyone else, Joey stirred and sat up. She looked tired, her eyes were closed, and she seemed almost zombie-like as she walked towards the bathroom. And ran into a wall. Twice. Regardless, she did eventually make it.

"What just happened?" Malik asked. The other two just shook their heads.

* * *

"WOO! Let's go kick some butt!" Joey yelled, apparently recovered from whatever the heck that had been earlier in the morning. Yugi, for one, had only ever seen her like that when a teacher started talking.

"It is pretty exciting." She agreed, fingering her card holster.

"Is this really a good idea?" Ryo asked, still nervous from yesterday.

"Think of it this way Ryo: exactly half of the people participating will be out in round one. So it's no big deal if you do get out then. Besides, Joey's probably going to get out then too." Malik supplied, completely seriously, with a smile. Joey, who had been marching confidently on ahead, anime fell.

"Hey!" She yelled, jumping back to her feet and glaring at them. "Have a little faith!"

"Sorry Joey." Yugi smiled sheepishly. She had faith in her friend, but neither Ryo nor Malik had seen her improvement in the game since she had started. "I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thanks, Yuug! But you're gonna be one a' the top, just wait!" She cheered, continuing to walk as if she had never stopped. Yugi shifted uncomfortably, finding Joey's complete and total faith in her to be just a little bit of a pressure builder. She wouldn't want to let Joey down after all she did to get them in here.

* * *

"Everyone has been put into pairs and should be seated with their partners." Mr. Crawford announced, eyes roving around the room to make sure everyone had a partner. "It seems that worked out perfectly! Now we have some new students, so I'm going to explain this once more! Each round will get you closer to the top positions, but if there is any cheating you will be disqualified." Several people muttered under their breath, most likely those who had been caught cheating last time. "When we get to the top four we will switch to duel boxes. Good luck, to all our competitors. You may begin!" And with that, everyone placed their first cards.

The first round seemed to whiz by almost too fast. Seto, Atem, Bakura, and Marik all crushed their opponents. Seto immediately, Yami gently, and the other two toyed with their "prey" first.

Yugi had won fairly easily against the man she was up against, a scrawny but wiry boy that had been with Hirutani when he attacked Joey. Unsurprisingly, Ryo was beat easily by her partner. In a pleasant turn of events, both Malik and Joey managed to get into the second round, Malik by the skin of her teeth and Joey by a landslide.

This was surprising to most, but Yugi knew that Joey either had really good or really bad luck most of the time. Meaning it was all good or all bad a lot, but sometimes she was able to use bad hands to give her the advantage. Being the main strategist in her old gang, she was actually very good at flipping things like that. She didn't exactly broadcast that though, so everyone just assumed she sucked.

Then everyone was re-paired and the second round started as the extra tables were removed. Seto crushed his opponent with ease, finesse, and that irritating smirk; Atem beat his and they shook hands after; Marik once again toyed with his before obliterating them with one swift blow after they thought they won; and Ryo's former opponent had the misfortune of being paired with Bakura who for some reason felt the need to crush him as painfully as possible instead of the usual toying. He felt extremely satisfied after that, but refused to believe it had anything to do with the pale new kid.

It had looked like Yugi was going to lose to Hirutani for a while, but she came back with her dark magician and won easily as if that were the plan the whole time. When Hirutani silently glared Yugi into the ground afterwards, Atem had to stop himself from coming to the smaller kid's defense. Which was confusing, because he hardly even knew Yugi! Malik wasn't able to hold out, losing fairly quickly to Atem but then shaking hands afterwards. Joey lost as well but managed to make the game the longest of the round, pulling out all the stops and making the game almost painful for the other player who she kept suggesting give up just to end the game.

It figured that the only time Joey had patience was when that was the only possible way to win.

It was almost sad when she was proud that she got the guy down under 1000 life points.

Seto got him the next round and crushed him just as ruthlessly as the rest of his opponents, after telling him it was no great achievement to defeat a "Mutt".

As the rounds passed, the five of them continued winning with ease, or managing to come back at the last second. Joey almost ripped her hair out when a) Seto continued to win and b) she realized that every single one of Yugi's opponents were in her old gang. She just knew that wouldn't end well.

Finally, they were down to last eight. Unsurprisingly, five of them were Yugi, Atem, Bakura, Marik, and Seto. In the last three was some short guy with nerdy glasses and green hair that fought with a bug deck. His name, apparently, was Weevil. Kinda ridiculous.

Yugi privately hoped it was just a stage name, for the boy's sake.

Then was another short one with red hair that fought with all dinosaurs, named Rex. The last was Mako, the muscle-bound man who had pulled Joey out of the fight.

Marik was against Rex; Weevil was against Atem; Seto verses Mako; Yugi verses Bakura.

Everyone seemed to be putting up a pretty good fight. Seto was the first to win his match, then Marik, shortly followed by Yugi who just managed to escape from Bakura's Destiny Board, and finally Atem who had barely recovered from Weevil's Great Moth.

"And now, everyone please get off of the basketball court." Mr. Crawford said jovially as a bunch of buff men came and took all the remaining dueling tables away. Confused, Joey, Malik, and Ryo did as told. As soon as they did, two huge battle boxes rose up from either side of the court, causing the newbies to gasp.

Yugi looked at the boxes in something close to awe. She had, of course, heard about them and her grandfather had shown her them on the TV, but she had never even been allowed to even touch one being a Hikari and all. Joey almost started drooling, but Malik elbowed her.

"And the pairings are: Yugi Moto verses Seto Kaiba and Marik Namu verses Atem Sennin!" Each walked into the duel boxes. Marik and Seto smirked, Atem smiled confidentially, and Yugi smiled nervously.

As they waited for the matches to start, Joey noticed a bunch of the boys gathered around a specific part of the gym. Being her, she told Malik and Ryo to stay put while she investigated. It was a betting ring on the two matches.

More specifically, on how fast Marik and Yugi would lose.

That didn't sit well with Joey.

"I bet Fifty bucks that Yugi's gonna win." She announced slamming the money onto the small betting table with a huge grin. That got everyone to stop and stare.

"You are aware that the odds of him winning are only one out of half a million?" The boy who was taking the bets informed, eyebrow raised.

"Well, everybody loves a good underdog." She said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. All the other boys laughed at Joey's apparent stupidity as they went back to placing bets on how fast either underdog would lose. "Ya gonna write it down or what?" She growled, putting herself all up in his personal space. He gulped, muttered something about "your loss" and then hurriedly scribbled something down on the piece of paper. She smirked and headed back to her friends. "Betting ring."

"You didn't make a bet, did you?" Ryo asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I bet Yuug'd win over rich-boy. If I'm right, I get the whole pot!"

"Joey, Yugi's good but you know the odds of winning are-" Malik started, but Joey interrupted.

"Yeah yeah, one in a million or somethin'. Why's everyone tellin' me the odds?" She asked, frowning in annoyance.

"Because they're bad odds, Joey!"

"Eh. Yuug always wins, there's nothin' ta worry about. And if I win, I'll get us all pizza and pay for the arcade after we see ya sista." Joey snapped, annoyed at the lack of faith they had in their friend.

There was silence in the group of friends after that, the only sounds in the gym being the Duels and the cheering from the other boys.

Marik put up a pretty good fight but soon enough he fell to Atem's Dark Magician, earning a round of cheers from the surrounding spectators. Afterwards, everyone turned their attention to the remaining duel between Seto and Yugi; just waiting for Yugi to lose. It was only a matter of time, as Seto currently had his Blue-eyes ultimate dragon (4500/3800) and all Yugi had was a Kuriboh (300/200) and a magic card.

"Yugi, how about you forfeit and make this a little less painful for yourself?" Seto smirked at the, apparently losing, side. Yugi was silent as she contemplated her next move, but Joey wasn't so meek.

"Shut up Kaiba, Yuug's gonna kick your butt!" She yelled from the sidelines, earning her a few jeers. Seto felt a flash of something very close to annoyance, but it was directed at Yugi for some reason. He ignored it, smirking at the little yap-dog on the edge of the field.

"And how do you propose he wins, Wheeler?" He sneered. He felt a bit of satisfaction as Joey only scowled back. "That's what I thought. Yugi, I believe you forfeit by placing your hand on your deck."

"I'm not done yet…" Yugi said, eyes darting over her cards once more as she pulled one out. "I place two cards face down, and the Dark Magician (2500/2100) in Attack mode. Then I end my turn."

"I hope you have something good, Yugi. Blue-eyes ultimate dragon, attack the dark magician!"

"I activate the spell card: Multiply!" Yugi yelled out a moment later, and Kuriboh suddenly became an impenetrable wall of Kuriboh. One of her magic cards disappeared accordingly.

"Impossible!" Seto yelled as his attack was stopped in its tracks, ignoring Joey's laughter. "I end my turn," he growled.

"Alright, just one more card…" Yugi muttered, legs feeling like jello as she reached towards the deck. She only needed that one extra card, and then she could make this whole plan work. If she didn't get it, the whole thing was for nothing. She hesitated a millimeter above the deck before closing her eyes and pulling out the top card as swiftly as possible. She cracked an eye open, almost afraid of what it would be… A huge grin spread across her face as she saw the card that she needed to win.

"I'll play one card face down, and then place Black Luster Ritual on the board! Then I'll sacrifice Gaia the Fierce Night from my hand and Kuriboh from the board-" She showed off Gaia and slipped it in the graveyard as all the Kuribohs and the multiply card disappeared there too. "-to summon the Black Luster Soldier!" The soldier (3000/2500) appeared on the field in an impressive swirl of darkness, causing muttering throughout the crowd. People were actually beginning to doubt that Seto would win this one.

"Nice try Yugi, but since my dragon is in Attack mode it has 4500 points, which is more than either of your monsters can dish out."

"Maybe alone." Yugi said with a grin that almost seemed impish. Joey marveled at how much more outgoing dueling made Yugi. "But when I activate my magic card, polymerization, I combine Dark Magician and Black Luster Soldier into the Black Luster Magician, with an attack of 5500! Black Luster Magician, attack Ultimate blue-eyes!" The Black Magician, which seemed to be dark magician with gold highlights, horns on his helmet, and a sword instead of a staff, did as he was told, destroying the bigger monster and bringing Seto's life points down to 500. "Now I'll use my final card, Monster Reborn, to resurrect Gaia the Fierce Knight and attack once more." Sure enough, the last card lifted to reveal Monster Reborn before it disappeared and Gaia (2300/2100) appeared in its place. He charged.

The duel had finished so suddenly that no one made a sound, shocked into silence by the unexpected change of events. Even Yugi was frozen in surprise. The first one to react, naturally, was Joey.

"WOO! I should bet more often, that's like a thousand bucks!" That (horribly insensitive) comment knocked everyone back to their own senses, and someone started slow-clapping. That one became two, two became six, six became somewhere in the thirties, there was really no discernible pattern in the numbers, but the clapping became quicker and more wild as more people joined and some started to hoot and holler.

There were a few people who hardly looked excited, some even downright murderous, including all of the Gang members that Yugi had beat and, of course, Seto. Though that may or may not have had something to do with the fact that he had the whole tournament calculated in his mind so that he could get all the betting money; not even a bit of it would have gone to the Mutt. He just hadn't expected quiet little Yugi to be quite so good at card games.

* * *

Factoid #7: I'm working off the theory that Yugi and Yami were only able to defeat Seto every time because of their teamwork so since they're separated in this story Seto has a fair chance of beating them both.


	8. The Tournament Part 2

AN: Sorry if duels don't actually work like this, but I've never played the card game and I'm working off the 4kids version.

* * *

"Good luck." Yugi smiled a bit nervously as she looked across the playing field at Atem.

"You seem nervous." Atem stated, shuffling his cards.

"This tournament the first time I've played anyone other than Joey and my grandpa," Yugi admitted awkwardly. "Especially in an actual dueling box."

"Don't worry about it, you're doing fine. You have to have some sort of skill to beat Seto," Atem assured, giving her a confident smile. "With how you've been doing today I would never have guessed."

Yugi blushed at the praise, looking down at her card set up to hide it.

"Alright, draw your cards!" Mr. Crawford called in his silly voice.

"Don't think I'm going to go easy on you," Atem smirked as he started pulling his first five cards.

"Don't think I want you to," Yugi replied with a smile, also drawing.

"I'll go first." He smirked looking over his first five cards. Dark Renewal, Exchange, Swords of revealing light, Big Shield Gardna (100/2600), and Sangan (1000/600). "I place two cards face down and then end my turn." He stated, placing Big Shield Gardna and Swords of revealing light facedown.

"Alright…" Yugi said, looking nervously at the face down cards. She looked at her own five cards: Mirror Force, Breath of Light, Griffore (1200/1500), Polymerization, and The Eye of Truth. "I'll play two face down cards and Griffore in attack mode and end my turn." She said, putting Mirror Force and Breath of Light on the board.

Atem drew, receiving Celtic guardian (1400/1200).

"I'll play Celtic Guardian in attack mode and then play the magic card, Exchange!" He announced. Both he and Yugi showed each other their remaining cards, him taking Polymerization and her taking Dark Renewal. "Now Celtic Guardian, attack Griffore!" The guardian charged, but before he was able to do any damage he ran into an invisible wall and bounced back, lowering his attack points by half (700/1200). "Mirror force!" Atem realized immediately, frowning when Yugi nodded back. "I put Celtic Guardian into defense mode and end my turn."

Yugi drew Miakiu the Magical Mist and sweat-dropped in exasperation. At this rate the duel would never go anywhere!

"Griffore, attack Celtic Guardian." She said, realizing only a moment later that Atem was smirking. She tried to call of the attack, but it was too late. Big shield Gardna appeared in front of Celtic Guardian and destroyed Griffore, lowering Yugi's life points from 4000 to 2600. "I'll activate Breath of Light." Seeing that Atem knew exactly what this meant, Yugi activated the card that simply wiped Celtic Guardian and Big Shield Gardena off of the board because they were earth-based monsters. "I end my turn."

Atem drew Heavy Storm.

"I play Heavy Storm." Said storm wiped away Mirror Force as Atem smirked. "Then I play Sangen in defense mode and end my turn."

Yugi drew Rude Kaiser (1800/1600).

"I play Rude Kaiser in defense mode and then end my turn."

Atem drew Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress (1400/1200).

"I play Winged Guardian of the Fortress, and then combine it with Sangan using Polymerization to create: Sangan, Guardian of the Fortress (2400/1800)! Sangan, Guardian of the Fortress, attack Rude Kaiser!" Sangan did as told, destroying the Rude Kaiser but not lowering Yugi's life points due to him being in defense mode. "I then end my turn."

Yugi drew Summoned Skull (2500/1200).

"I play Summoned Skull in attack mode and then use Miakiu the Magical Mist." She did as she said, destroying Sangan, Guardian of the Fortress and lowering Atem's life points from 4000 to 1600. "I end my turn."

"Good move," Atem commented as he drew his ace card: Dark Magician (2500/2100).

"Thanks," Yugi replied happily.

"I activate the Swords of Revealing Light!" He smirked as Summoned Skull was frozen in place. "Then I end my turn." He needed a boost of power for his magician if he was going to destroy Summoned Skull, and he now had three turns to do it by.

Yugi drew Dark Magician, but didn't play it. She knew Atem had something planned and wanted something in the reserves.

"Your turn," She said.

Atem nodded and drew once more, smirking as he saw Horn of the Unicorn.

"I play Dark Magician and then equip Horn of the Unicorn (3200/2800). Dark Magician, attack Summoned Skull!" Summoned Skull burst into a million pixilated bits as Yugi's life points dropped from 2600 to 1900. "I end my turn."

Yugi drew De-spell and smiled.

"I play De-Spell." Both Horn of the Unicorn and Swords of Revealing Light disappeared. "I play Dark Magician and end my turn."

Atem and Yugi looked at each other a moment before their eyes shifted to their monsters and their lips quirked in amusement.

Then the moment was over and Atem drew another card, smirking when he saw it was the Spellbinding Circle.

"I play Spellbinding Circle on your Dark Magician and then end my turn." Atem said.

Yugi drew Magical Hats, but frowned since she couldn't very well use them on a spell-bound monster.

"I pass. Your turn."

Atem drew Mystic Box.

"I activate Mystic Box!" He declared. "Sorry, my friend." Atem muttered. He could've sworn his Dark Magician nodded at him, as if to tell him it was alright, before both Magicians were encased in boxes. The box on his side was impaled by several swords, causing the watching crowd to gasp. Then both boxes opened, one Dark Magician, Yugi's, stepping out. But on Atem's side of the field.

"My Dark Magician!" Yugi gasped in surprise.

"Yes, but now he is under my control. Dark Magician, attack!"

Yugi's life points dropped to zero and the crowd's cheers were deafening. It wasn't often that someone other than Seto Kaiba ever had even a chance of beating Atem.

"Nice job." Atem congratulated the smaller teen as they reached out to shake hands. It wasn't often that he met someone worth dueling that wouldn't pitch a fit if he won.

"You too! That Magic Box trick was great!" Yugi agreed. Their hands touched and a spark seemed to go off, making them pull back almost immediately. "Static electricity," Yugi muttered after a moment. Atem just nodded in agreement and they hurried over to their respective friend groups.

Joey groaned, having lost $20 to the betting ring.

"I told you not to bet." Malik sighed. Joey just pouted in return.

"Come on guys, we need to go see Ishizu." Yugi said as they got out of school later that day. All of their classes had been shortened considerably (try ten minutes a class). Joey was tempted to skip again, but she needed to know what classes she had. Fate seemed to hate her, as every single one was with Kaiba and only four had Yugi.

"Yeah yeah, we're comin'." Joey muttered, trudging after the other three. She looked just bored, but she was on high alert and had an excuse to keep an eye on all three other girls at the same time. Joey knew her old gang wouldn't take very kindly to being beat by someone as wimpy as Yugi, and didn't plan to let Yugi out of her sight anytime soon.

"Here are the keys, Ryo." Yugi smiled, handing said girl the keys as they approached Yugi's grandpa's car that they had all shared since they had started driving. Ryo was the designated driver every time they got together, and for good reason. Malik wasn't so bad, but she got distracted pretty easily; Yugi was an excellent driver, but everyone pulled her over a lot because she looked like a kid; and Joey was a crazy driver. Speeding, cutting people off, yelling profanities, and rude hand gestures were mainstream when she was in the driver's seat. As well as anyone else riding in the car fearing for their lives.

One calm and utterly uneventful car ride later, they all filed into Yugi's house.

"Hello girls."

"NYAAA!" Joey practically flew backwards, hitting the back of the couch and flipping spectacularly over it, only to land on her back on the ground once more.

"Hi Ishizu." Malik greeted blandly as the other two rushed to see if Joey was alright.

"ISHIZU! How do you do that?!" Joey yelled, shooting into a standing position and sort of whining at the older girl. Ishizu only smiled serenely at her, causing her to scowl. The spell-renewal thing went really fast, and soon enough the four were walking back out to get pizza and go to the arcade, all paid by Joey as she had promised earlier.

* * *

We have two factoids today!

Factoid #8: I'm working off of the theory that Yami made Yugi better at games over the course of the series to the point that Yugi surpassed him but before they worked together Yami was better at dueling than Yugi. So it was only Yami's influence that Yugi was able to beat him in the ceremonial duel, which means in this story Yugi is really good but Yami is currently better. (Is that cannon already? If it is, then hazzah for me! And a mental smack for stupidity.)

Factoid #9: So for the first duel between Yugi and Atem I started out by numbering each of the cards in their decks (I picked two different decks of Yugi's) and having my sister pick random numbers for each. Then I realized that I wanted Atem to win, and so turned to the heart of the cards! So basically I got tired and started picking their cards for them. Heart of the cards! As a side note, I'm never writing a full duel again. They're boring for me to write and I don't particularly like reading them either. I'll stick with the winning moves, thank you very much.


	9. A Strange Request

**Note: Joey, Malik, Ryo and Yugi will be referred to as boys in this chapter and any other chapter in which it is written third person limited, someone who doesn't know their secret.**

The next chapters will be a day in each of the character's lives; most of them have either a plotpoint or character building in them.

 **A Day in the Life of Atem** or **A Strange Request**

* * *

Atem woke up Wednesday in his room, like any other morning. He got up and got ready for school while trying his best to ignore all of the expensive things that were packed into his room, as if Gozobura were actually trying to buy his trust and loyalty.

Atem half hoped he was, because then he may have a chance to blindside the jerk, or at least get him to slip something about Mokuba. Not that Atem actually thought he would be trusted even if he trusted Gozobura, paranoid and cold-hearted as his adoptive father was, but it might almost be worth a shot. Only if Seto couldn't get anything from those pictures and notes, though.

Speaking of whom, Atem had noticed that Seto had been acting a bit strange ever since those new kids showed up. He seemed to be putting in even more effort than normal to hate Joey in particular, but denied anything that Atem said.

Which only made Atem more suspicious, but Seto always denied everything so it could just be nothing.

He met Bakura and Marik outside of their rooms respectively, which were even bigger and more lavish than Atem's and Seto's. They walked in silence to the limo that Gozobura had take them to school every morning, knowing that Seto would meet them there.

"Hello Seto," he greeted with a smile as he stepped into the car, getting a curt nod in reply. Marik merely grunted slightly, as he wasn't a morning person at all.

"Someone was up all night. What were you doing, huh?" Bakura asked with a huge grin. Atem sighed as Seto gave him the famous stare. Bakura could be so immature. However, he was correct in one thing: Seto had been up all night. And Atem was pretty sure he knew why.

"How's research been going?" He asked casually, referring to the search for Mokuba. He saw, from the corner of his eye, Marik and Bakura looking minutely more interested. Seto and Atem had told them about the package the day after they opened it.

Seto's face darkened and Atem instantly knew he wouldn't be happy the rest of the day.

"I couldn't find anything substantial." He said coldly, looking at his laptop with a glare that could stop a person's heart. The rest of the ride was silent.

Mornings were often like this in Kaiba mansion. It was like some unspoken rule that you never speak of anything but business inside, and outside you had to always assume that someone was listening to everything you said and reporting it straight to Gozobura.

The chauffeur dropped them off right in front of the school and drove away the instant they had all exited the vehicle; a purely work relationship.

"NYAA!" All four boys looked to see the source of the sound, only to see the four new boys. More specifically, Joey had yelled and fallen over. This seemed to be a regular occurrence due to his friends' lack of reaction.

Seto made a small amused noise and Atem looked at him instantly. Marik and Bakura sniggering at the boy's expense was to be expected, and maybe on a good day it could get Seto to laugh, but so quickly after bad news about Mokuba? That was strange.

Seeming to realize what he had done, Seto scowled and muttered, "Stupid dog." Atem opened his mouth to ask, once again, what on earth was going on with him (not that he really expected an answer), but he was interrupted by another voice.

"Hey, Atem, I need ta talk to you." All four boys turned to see Joey standing in front of them with determined expression.

"What do you want, Wheeler?" Seto sneered.

"I think I made it pretty clear that I wanna talk to Atem, Kaiba. _Not_ you." Joey snarled right back; it was obvious that Joey was not in the mood to put up with Seto's attitude.

"Of course, Joey. What do you want to talk about?" Atem said, stepping in before it could get worse between the two. They had known each other for less than three days, and it was already obvious that they absolutely loathed each other.

"In private! Geez." Joey rolled his eyes as if it were obvious and grabbed Atem's upper arm, starting to drag him away. His friends watched, but made no move to stop him. "You got Science, Art, and History with Yuug, right?" Joey asked as he continued to pull Atem to a less populated part of the campus, but still within the line of sight of his friends. Atem noticed he kept glancing over at something across the courtyard every few seconds.

"Yes…" He said slowly, not exactly sure where this was going. He scanned the courtyard for something that Joey would be looking at, finally spotting the other three new students on the other side. They seemed to be doing their best to avoid interacting with anyone.

"I want you ta keep an eye on him during those classes. When I ain't around, don't let him leave your sight," Joey said as he finally stopped and spun to face Atem.

"You want me to spy on your friend? Why?" Atem wondered, rising an eyebrow and crossing his arms despite being stared down by the taller boy.

"'Cuz somethin's gonna happen to him, I just know it!" Joey seethed. That got Atem to stop acting so petulant, as now it was clear Joey had no ill will, but he was only more confused.

"Why do you think that? And why are you asking me, at least one of your other friends are in her classes too." Joey gave him a look, obviously unimpressed and annoyed.

"Have you seen Malik and Ryo? They're great an' all, but they're pretty much as useful as a soggy piece of bread in the middle of a fight. Plus, I don't trust Marik and Bakura. I don't trust you either, but it's better than nothin'. Just answer the question will ya?"

"I suppose, but-" Atem started, but Joey had already said, "Great," and then apparently spotted something worrying and run back over to his friends. This left Atem a little more satisfied, but pondering why Joey would think Yugi was in any danger as he made his way back to his friends.

He supposed it could have something to do with the tournament held the previous day, but it was pretty much social taboo for Yamis to do anything contrary to the outcome of a duel. Dueling was the way Yamis decided pretty much anything, and the previous day was merely a test of strength. Another unspoken rule, he supposed; if two Yamis got in a duel both would have to honor the agreement, unless the victor and the loser agreed to call off whatever the deal was.

"What did the Mutt want?" Seto asked, looking disinterested. He seemed to be back to his foul mood, and Atem wondered if he had imagined his earlier amusement.

"Joey," he sent Seto a look as he stressed the blond boy's name, "seems to think that Yugi could be in danger of some sort and wants me to make sure nothing happens to him while they're in different classes," Atem informed them while checking to see if his arm was bruised. Joey sure did have a strong grip.

"Oh." Marik smirked.

"So he is smart." Bakura said in agreement.

"What?" Atem and Seto asked, frowning at the other two. Marik and Bakura just sniggered; they loved it when they knew something Atem and Seto didn't because it hardly ever happened. This only made Atem think that perhaps Joey had been correct in asking him to watch over Yugi, contrary to his previous line of reasoning. Marik and Bakura didn't laugh for no reason, after all, and they didn't have the most moral sense of humor out there either.

"Nothing, Pharaoh," Marik replied with a wave of his hand as they started walking to math class. Atem grew even more suspicious at that. Pharaoh was the nickname Marik had come up with for him before they became friends due to his Egyptian heritage and strong sense of justice and fairness. He only used that when he was going to do something or he knew that something was going to be done that was unacceptable within Atem's strict moral code. But from years of experience, Atem knew that neither Marik nor Bakura would ever tell and resolved to drop it and just keep a close eye on Yugi.

Math started with a pleasant surprise; all four new boys (not that any other gender would be accepted as it was an all-boys school) were in the class as well. At least it was pleasant for Atem; he was pretty sure Seto's mood dropped even lower when he spotted Joey. Duke (having already told everyone minus Joey that they could call him by his first name) went through class in his usual flamboyant and showy way and Atem smirked as every time he turned away Bakura and Joey would imitate him.

Afterwards, Atem and Malik headed off to French. A class they were all required to take, though many Yamis were annoyed they had to learn a love language. The teacher was Tea Mazaki, the twin of their Language Arts teacher Anzu Mazaki. She looked exactly the same, but was more prone to going on long rants and giving speeches that _could_ be taken as encouraging but mostly just made people want to punch her in the face. Her fault for teaching Yamis. After that class was finally over, Atem finding out that Malik could already speak fluent French (as well as Egyptian, English, _and_ Japanese), they also parted ways and Atem headed to Physical Education.

In Phys. Ed. Atem met up with Bakura and Ryo quietly injected himself into the little group, as he knew no one else. Atem noticed Bakura didn't terrorize Ryo as much as he usually would such a quiet soul, but decided best not to question it lest Bakura decide to take the innocent question as a challenge. Mai, as usual, took it upon herself to make the new recruit collapse by the end of the block. She had been pleasantly surprised when Joey had still been standing (even cheering for more) at the end, and was disappointed when his friend dropped only halfway through. She then had Bakura and Atem carry the exhausted boy to the infirmary. Bakura offered to hang around until he was ready to go back so Atem headed back alone, wondering about Bakura's motives.

After bidding goodbye to Bakura and Ryo, who had turned up about ten minutes before class got out, Atem headed to History: the first class that he had to make sure Yugi was safe in.

"But Yuug, I don't wanna go ta class!" He heard as he approached, correctly identifying the voice as Joey. "I got Science next and I think the teacher hates me, besides, I gotta deal with Kaiba!" He and Yugi were standing right outside the classroom. Yugi said something a bit too quietly for Atem to hear, but it caused Joey to scowl. "No, Yugi. I _don't_ want you to walk me to class. I-" He stopped a moment as he saw Atem over Yugi's shoulder. "I'm goin', I'm goin'. Now get in there, you're gonna be late ta class."

Atem smirked, realizing what Joey had done there. A handoff of sorts, Joey now knew that Atem was here to make sure nothing happened to Yugi before, during, or after class. And Atem knew he'd be held accountable if anything did.

"Hello Yugi." He greeted, sitting down in the seat next to the smaller boy, who jumped and then smiled cutely at-

Ah, no. Not cutely. That would be weird, as Yugi was both a boy and a Yami. Not cute.

"Oh, hi Atem."

Darn, he _was_ cute. But in a baby animal sort of way. Like a kitten. More like a baby panda, actually.

Whatever.

The class passed normally, Professor Hopkins coming in and saying hello to Atem especially. Atem was his favorite student after all, as they both loved to study Ancient Egypt. He was an old but kind looking man with grey hair. He had been an archeologist for a long time before retiring from that and becoming a teacher, but he sometimes returned to digs during school breaks and would occasionally bring back a souvenir to show off to his classes. He also had a granddaughter that was about ten years old or something and had a weird crush on Atem, she had ever since he brought her to school one day.

Atem did as Joey told him, walking with Yugi to the Cafeteria and doing his best to keep an eye on him while trying not to look like a creeper. They sat with the others at the same table as last time and Atem could almost see Joey visibly relax at seeing Yugi before going back to arguing with Seto about something stupid like the consistency of tomato sauce. Atem, Bakura, and Marik kept to themselves mostly while Malik, Ryo, and Yugi did the same, but Seto and Joey spent almost all of lunch arguing about increasingly ridiculous things, starting with Joey's table manners.

After lunch finally ended, Atem and Yugi walked to Science together and once more sat next to each other. Atem had never really liked this class. First of all, science just wasn't his forte; that was history. Second, Ushio, the teacher, was basically everything he hated personified: Greed, superiority complexes, and picking on those who are weaker/less powerful than you. However, he couldn't do anything about it because he _was_ one of those people who had less power than him.

Ushio seemed to especially like picking on Yugi, probably because he was one of the few people who wouldn't put up any sort of fight. This made Atem angrier than usual, he was sure it was due to the same reason it made Ushio happier than usual, so he calmly hinted that he might get Ushio fired for it. Not that he actually could, as Gozobura would probably make Ushio the principal if he knew how horrible he was to his adopted sons, but Ushio didn't need to know that.

Art, the second to last class of the day, went pretty well. Atem only had the class with Yugi, but the teacher was actually tolerable. She wasn't someone Atem would even consider hanging out with, but she wasn't horrible. A short woman with light purple hair always in a ponytail, Miho Nosaka was the very definition of the word airhead. He would have said that she was a stereotypical dumb blond, but for the fact that, as mentioned before, Miho had purple hair. There was a rumor going around that it was actually blond, but Atem had no trouble believing purple hair was natural, as his hair was natural too and it wasn't exactly normal. Then again, most people thought his was dyed and styled as well.

As Atem and Yugi walked out of the classroom, Atem wondered if Joey expected him to drop Yugi off at his class before going to his own and, if he is, how on earth he would do so without seeming really weird. His dilemma was solved only a moment later as Joey came sprinting down the hall, sliding to a stop right in front of them before falling flat on his face. Atem thought it was interesting how well Joey could fight, but as soon as he wasn't in danger he was clumsy as all else. Though, come to think of it, he had fallen on his face during the fight Atem saw. He was back up almost before they realized he had fallen, grinning at Yugi.

"Haha, hey Yuug!"

"Joey? What're you doing here?" Yugi asked, also not expecting the random occurrence.

"Had to get away from rich-boy, he's been on my case all day," Joey scowled. Atem had to give it to him: he was a good liar.

"Okay… Then I guess we should go to class." Yugi looked like he didn't believe what Joey was saying, but was giving him the benefit of the doubt anyway as they walked off and Joey shot a thumbs up at Atem in thanks.

Atem just shook his head before proceeding to his last class of the day: Language Arts. He was alone in this one, not even any of the new boys were in it. He had people to talk to (like Mako), as he was one of the most popular people in school, but none of them were really good friends.

"I see your mood hasn't improved." Marik observed, talking to Seto when the four Yamis met after school had finished. Seto only glared in reply, confirming the statement.

"So what are we going to do today?" Atem asked, simply wondering what they were going to do until they had to go home.

"I have a meeting with Gozobura," Seto reported coldly, his mood definitely not improving at all.

"I'll just hang around here," Bakura said nonchalantly. Everyone knew that just meant that they didn't want to know, so Marik immediately volunteered to stay as well.

"He wants to meet with you two afterwards," Seto informed them, but Bakura only scoffed.

"He can bite me," Bakura sneered.

"We'll meet him when we get back," Marik said dismissively.

"One of these days he's going to get fed up with you," Atem said, frowning worriedly. Sometimes he didn't think that Bakura took the machine placed on his ankle seriously at all. It was a GPS, mostly. There was someone monitoring it at all times, and whenever he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be they could administer a small shock as a warning. It was never plainly said, but the boys were certain that a warning shock wasn't the only thing the bracelet was capable of. Marik had one exactly like it, but he was generally better at quitting while he was ahead, and so wasn't quite as used to the shocks.

"We're still useful, he won't off us." Malik and Bakura shrugged.

Atem sighed, "Then at least try to get back before he's done with his meeting with Seto, he probably won't care unless you're late."

"As you wish, my Pharaoh." They chorused sarcastically, bowing to him as they leered.

"Are you coming or not?" Seto asked finally as the limo pulled up. He wasted no time in getting in, causing Atem to shoot Marik and Bakura just one more warning look before hopping in as well.

They arrived back at the mansion about ten minutes later and Seto headed straight to Gozobura's study after giving Atem his second laptop (the one he did things that Gozobura didn't know about on) for safekeeping. Atem went and camped out in Seto's room while he waited for the meeting to be over. They always had a meeting after Gozobura had one with any of them, and even though Seto's room was the smallest (comparatively, though that didn't mean much) and most spartan it had always been the place they met.

Atem opened the computer and looked through all the files they had on Mokuba and his location. They had been at this search for years, ever since he was taken away, but never came close to figuring anything out. The computer didn't have anything on it that Seto wouldn't want Atem to see, just as it had everything that he didn't want Gozobura to see. It had everything on Mokuba; all of the sums of their own personal cash stockpile (just in case); information on Gozobura and all of his allies, friends, allies' friends, friends' allies, anyone that had anything to do with Gozobura at any point in time; and finally, it had a plan. Only the vaguest drifts of a plan, no one that didn't already know would be able to tell what it was talking about as there was only one detailed copy of the plan and Seto kept that hidden away in a secret place. The plan of how to take over Kaibacorp after they saved Mokuba.

He sat on the bed, looking around at the room with a sigh after he stashed the computer in its usual hiding spot. This had been the type of room they dreamed of while they were at the orphanage.

"Stop thinking about that." Atem's thoughts stopped in their tracks and his head jerked to look at the now-open door. Standing there was Seto, looking as if he had aged ten years in the meeting. "They made it on time," Seto said as he closed the door, answering Atem's unasked question about Bakura and Marik.

As much as Seto said he didn't believe in stuff like that, Atem was almost certain that his cousin had ESP.

"I don't have ESP."

"Of course not." Atem's lip twitched in amusement at the old, worn out, and run-down joke. The thing was really too old to be funny anymore, but it still hadn't stopped making Atem at least a bit happy. "So what did he want to meet about?" He asked, getting serious once more.

"Bakura and Marik should be here soon, we'll talk when they arrive." He said, retrieving the computer from its spot and setting it on his desk. "Did you check?" He asked as he opened the thing.

"Of course, I found three. We'll have to look with Bakura though, he's definitely the best." The two sat in silence as they waited.

"Well isn't this cheerful," Marik said as he sauntered into the room, Bakura tromping behind him with a sour look. Their meeting obviously hadn't gone well for them either, not that a meeting with Gozobura Kaiba could ever really go _well_.

Atem and Seto looked up from their respective positions, Seto from working on the computer and Atem doing homework on the bed.

"Good, close the door." Seto said, standing up and starting to check around the room. He was soon joined by the other three, running their fingers over everything and checking every nook and cranny for any sort of bug or listening device that may have been placed over the course of the day.

They found three.

Seto muttered under his breath, disabled two of them, and crushed the one he couldn't disable. He dropped the two into the bottom drawer for repurposing later.

"Alright. Seto, you first." Atem said, taking charge.

"He's starting to suspect that we're close to finding Mokuba. He didn't say anything explicit, but he was asking a lot of questions and wanted to see my laptop." He reported. "Also, all that I've got so far off the pictures is that they're holding him somewhere near a large body of water. He started writing more in English and less in Kanji as time went on, so we can also assume that almost everyone around him is speaking English."

"It's better than nothing," Atem said, nodding. That had sort of become his mantra when it came to finding Mokuba. They hardly ever got any piece of information, but everything they did get narrowed the search area a little bit more. "What about you two?"

"Just reports," Marik sighed.

"Nothing you haven't heard already." Bakura muttered darkly.

"Then why is Bakura in such a bad mood?" Atem asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He got snappy, so Gozo got zappy." Marik replied with his old crazy smile, laughing at his own little rhyme. That is, until Bakura shoved him down and stood on his stomach. Then they just glared at each other. Marik was strong and Bakura was light, so it really wasn't that big of a problem, but it still hurt.

"I thought you said they didn't even hurt anymore." Seto pointed out, not even looking at the grudge-match going on in the center of his room.

"Doesn't mean it's not annoying." Bakura sneered without looking away from Marik. Marik seemed to get fed up with him, grabbed his ankles, and rolled to try and make him fall over. He jumped back up almost immediately and kicked Marik in the stomach.

Atem sighed; this was going to be a long night.

* * *

Interesting factoid 10: The analogy "as useful as a soggy piece of bread in a fight" as used by Joey means that they're good for a distraction, but they'd get torn to pieces in seconds.


	10. Stalkers

AN: I almost forgot it was monday! But I remembered! Updated before midnight! Ha!

* * *

 **A Day in the Life of Yugi** or **Stalkers**

Yugi sighed as she and her three closest friends headed toward Math, their first class and the only one they all had together. It had been about a week since the tournament and she had been treated almost like royalty since she had beat Seto in a duel. She tried to say it was a fluke, but no one listened. It was apparently very impressive, and none of the sneering that had been going on the first day had been visible except from those she beat directly.

She had asked Joey why she was being treated like some sort of hero, and at first Joey had said it was probably because no one liked Seto, which Yugi thought was unfair. After a gentle scolding from Ryo, Malik, and Yugi (alright, maybe Malik wasn't gentle), Joey had finally told them that Duel monsters was pretty much law in the Yami world. Or at least that's what she had got from her time in her gang.

But as much as being put on a pedestal for a fluke made her uncomfortable, there was something that had her a little more worried.

Ever since the tournament, Joey had spent as much time as possible watching her. Not like stalking, but more like Joey thought something bad was going to happen. Joey didn't think she noticed, but she had an inkling ever since Joey had run all the way from History to Art (which was on the other side of the school) to pick her up. It had only been confirmed over the week. She knew that Joey could handle whatever it was that was worrying her so much, but she also knew that Joey probably had a good reason for being worried and the fact that she was only worried about Yugi (she hadn't put guards on everyone else, yeah she noticed Atem too) only made Yugi think that perhaps she was the only one in any danger. She didn't know why on earth anyone would come after her, but it made her uneasy and almost glad that Joey was so paranoid.

It had been weird, but comforting, for the first few days, but a week had passed and nothing had happened at all. She was beginning to think that maybe Joey _was_ just being paranoid.

She tried to shake those thoughts out of her head as Duke Devlin started their math class, but they just seemed to keep coming back. Why was it that Joey didn't seem the slightest bit worried when they were in class? It wasn't her usual pretend-bored thing that she did a lot when she wanted to be sneaky either; Joey was well and truly bored.

Math came and went, as with any other day, and soon enough she was walking to Language Arts with Ryo and Joey. Bakura and Seto were also going to the same class, but both groups did their best to ignore the other. They were almost to class when someone walked by and bumped shoulders with Yugi, causing her to stumble backwards slightly.

"Oh, sorry!" She called, immediately recognizing the skinny boy she had beat in the first round of duel monsters. He looked familiar for another reason too, but she couldn't imagine where she would have seen him before. He glared over his shoulder at her before vanishing into the crowded hallway.

"You okay Yuug?" Joey asked from behind her, causing her to turn around.

"Um, yes. I'm fine." She said uncertainly, glancing back to where the boy had disappeared before following her taller friend into Anzu Mazaki's class. They were learning about Shakespeare today, which made Joey groan but Yugi smile. Shakespeare's writing was like a puzzle in itself, and Yugi absolutely adored puzzles.

On the way to the next class, Yugi could have sworn she saw the third person she defeated, a tall and muscular boy with a buzz-cut, glaring at her from a side-hallway but when she looked back he wasn't there anymore. She subconsciously walked closer to Joey after that.

French, her third class that she had with Joey, Seto, and Marik, was always interesting. Yugi tried her best, but she wasn't very good. She was passable though. Marik didn't seem to care enough to try, Seto could just about speak it fluently, and Joey… Joey butchered it.

Yugi knew she shouldn't find it funny that Joey couldn't speak a lick of French, but her attempts really were amusing. And then there was Seto, who looked at Joey and said completely normal sentences in a condescending voice just to get a rise out of her. They were simple sentences as well, just things like "your name is Joey".

The French language really was just beyond Joey's comprehension.

Yugi's last class before lunch was History, and it was the first one that she had without Joey. She was actually kind of glad that Joey walked her to her class to "get away from money-bags", even though she was sure that wasn't the reason, because she had been seeing several people glaring at her over the day. Each of them was a person she had beaten, but she could've sworn she knew them from somewhere else even if she couldn't quite put her finger on where.

Joey once again managed to stick around until Atem showed up and sat next to her.

"Joey told you to keep an eye on me, right?" She asked as they waited for class to start. Atem looked over at her with a blankly, not smiling but not looking sheepish at all.

"Yes, he did." Atem said plainly.

"Did he tell you why?" Yugi asked, curious because she hadn't been able to figure it out for herself.

"No, but he seemed convinced that you were in danger so I thought I would help." Yugi found this kind of ironic, actually. Joey hated Yamis; she thought they were all jerks who cared about no one but themselves, but here she was asking one of them to look after Yugi (which is impressive as Joey didn't trust _anyone_ to look after Yugi). Yugi wondered what was so special about Atem that Joey trusted him.

Deciding to ask Joey about it later, as she probably hadn't told Atem, Yugi let the matter drop. She had never really been one to pry into other people's motives.

Professor Hawkins walked in and, as usual, said hello to Atem. Before class started, the professor excitedly showed off his newest trinket: one of the many Shabti (a small stone figure) found in his latest excavation. The rest of class went as could be expected, and Atem walked Yugi to Lunch without either of them bringing up Joey's strange request.

They sat with their respective groups, as usual, and generally didn't interact at all. Even Seto and Joey managed to not get in a fight, but that was mostly because Joey was busy looking suspiciously at a group in one corner of the room while pretending not to. Yugi looked around one point and saw almost everyone she had beat in the tournament.

Not realizing the significance of this at the moment, Yugi shrugged and continued eating.

Afterwards, Atem and Yugi once again walked together to Science. Science went as well as could be expected when you have a teacher like Ushio, but he had stopped picking on Yugi so much after Atem had threatened him. Yugi wasn't quite sure why he had done that (or why he would based on Joey's analysis of all Yamis), but she was thankful.

They walked to art next, and that class was fairly normal as well, at least until the last few minutes. During that time, Atem got a call on his phone and had to leave class. As he left, Yugi realized that the first person she had beat was in her class. This reminded her of all the other people she had beat, and how they all seemed familiar in some way that she couldn't place.

Let's see… They all keep showing up and glaring… they were all sitting together at lunch… with Hirutani… Hirutani's the leader of a gang…

It was right as Yugi walked out of the classroom that it hit her, and she realized that Atem had left early and Joey wasn't there yet.

CRAP!

She was about to slink back into the classroom and hide until Joey got here, that was really her only option as Joey was the only one she knew that was willing to take on a whole gang, but just then the small guy she had beat first spoke up.

"Going somewhere?" He sneered, grasping her upper arm tightly. "Let's go for a walk." He led her to a more deserted part of the campus only a little ways away, not even seeming to notice her struggles to get free.

"Good job, now let's teach him a lesson he'll never forget." Hirutani and four other people seemingly materialized out of nowhere, surrounding her.

"Ah!" Yugi exclaimed as the small, yet surprisingly strong, boy practically threw her against the wall. She looked around frantically, trying to see if there was any place to run, but all possible routes were cut off by the six men. "Joey!" She squeaked, shrinking against the wall and hoping against hope that Joey had somehow heard her.

Running towards the scene, a blond took something off from around her neck and tucked it safely into her pants pocket.

"Ha! Your friend wouldn't stand a chance against us." Hirutani laughed as they all moved closer. Then the blows started. Hirutani kicked her in the stomach, causing her to double over as she gasped for breath. Then the short boy took the opportunity to shove her face-first into the ground. She rolled onto her side, eyes squinted in pain and anticipating the next blow. But, much to her surprise, she saw a flash of blond between two of the members of the gang and then Hirutani and the second-largest guy went down before anyone could tell what hit them.

When the gang members noticed, they looked around frantically for whoever could have done that to their "glorious leader" and his number one lackey without them even noticing. But Yugi had already figured it out, and was grateful when Joey took their confusion as an opportunity to put herself between them and her friend.

"You'd betta get outta here, before the same thing happens ta you." She snarled, getting into a fighting stance. Despite their leader and their second best fighter going down, it was only one against four and the gang was sure they could win. That is until three more went down and the fourth decided to cut his losses and run for it. "You okay Yuug? Sorry I wasn't here, that rich-boy wouldn't let me go! Kept askin' why I ran off after History every day." She seethed, ignoring her own, more extensive, injuries, and looking over every inch of Yugi like a mother hen.

"Joey… Joey, I'm okay… Joey, you're bleeding!" Yugi assured, then freaking out when she spotted how roughed-up her friend actually was.

"Eh?" Joey asked, as if she hadn't realized she was injured. And by the perplexed look she was giving the slight bruises that were already forming on her arms (she had thrown off her red dress-jacket on the way and had replaced the dress shirt with a plain white tee the first day of school), she really didn't know. "Whateva. I've had worse. Come on Yuug, let's get you ta the clinic."

Yugi found it almost strange whenever Joey got like this. She knew Joey cared, she was probably one of the most caring people Yugi had ever met, but usually she at least tried to keep up her tough act. The only time she really acted this outright caring with no yelling or glaring at whatever/whoever she was threatening was in situations such as this; when Yugi, Ryo, or Malik were actually injured and she felt responsible.

Yugi wasn't sure why Joey felt the need to be strong all the time, or why she hated being a Hikari so much, but it was just part of what made Joey… Well, Joey. So she wasn't about to complain.

That is, until Joey picked her up and started carrying her to the infirmary. Joey just laughed and continued on.

"Hey, nurse!" Joey called as she headed in, spotting the white-and-blue haired woman tending to another student. The woman, known only as Nurse to Yugi and Joey, turned to them with an innocent look. She was the only Hikari in the school, not counting the four that snuck in secretly.

"What happened?" She asked, looking worriedly at the two while Joey finally put Yugi down. Both looked a bit worse-for-wear, but Joey seemed to have taken the brunt of the beating.

"Nothin' much, just a couple a' jerks jealous of Yuug," Joey said, waving it off as nothing. She had a feeling it would be best for her to be on good terms with the Nurse for some reason.

"Oh, it was Hirutani, wasn't it?" She sighed. When she saw their confused looks, she elaborated. "He and his gang cause half of the injuries in this school and no one can do anything about it. At least no one who wants to. Anyway, both of you can come over here so I can check on you."

A lot of muttering, a ton of Band-Aids, and a few icepacks later they were ready to go.

"You two were lucky, usually they do a lot worse. Try to stay away from them, alright?" Kisara, for she had told them that was her name, said as she waved them out. They nodded, heading to Physical Education. As they walked back, Yugi noticed but decided not to mention that Joey's hand kept going back to her pocket as if to make sure something was still there.

They arrived half an hour late.

"What happened to you?" Mai Valentine asked as soon as they walked in, smashing any hopes they had of being subtle. Yugi was sort of limping and had a few bandages on her face, but Joey was doing her best to walk tall and proud. She was doing a pretty good job too, but acting couldn't cover up the bandages and since she was still missing her jacket they could see bruises too. And the traces of blood on the white shirt didn't help much either.

"Nothin' Ms. V, I took care of it." Joey dismissed. "But Yugi needs ta sit out."

"And you don't?" She asked skeptically, observing the damage. Malik ran over from the crowd and started fussing over the both of them.

"Hey, I said I'm alright!" Joey cried, blushing as Malik continued to fuss. Meanwhile, Yugi looked around at the surrounding Yamis. Most of them looked quite amused with Joey's antics, but there were two in particular that weren't so happy.

Seto and Marik were, for some reason, glaring at Joey. Yugi couldn't fathom why they would be, but Seto started glaring a moment after Joey walked in and Marik started looking sour a moment after Malik ran over to check on them.

Mai Valentine finally made Joey sit out as well, not before Kaiba made a few Mutt jokes about her being too dumb and/or stubborn to realize she was hurt, when she almost took herself out playing dodge ball.

The rest of class was spent with Joey fuming silently and Yugi watching everyone else go around. She could've sworn she kept seeing Seto glance over at them, but thought she must have imagined it.

The rest of the day went fairly quickly, meeting up with Ryo after school ended and heading over to Yugi's to get their "glamour" re-done before simply returning to the dorm and forcing Joey to do her homework.

In a rundown warehouse on the outskirts of a town, a group of people gathered in the shadows.

"You really think it's her?" Asked one of the smaller figures. "But that's impossible. He has the same name, but there's no way she managed to get everyone to think she's a boy _and_ a Yami."

"Are you calling me a liar?" The biggest demanded.

"N-no sir."

"They do have similar fighting styles, and he seemed to know when we would come, but we should be sure before we try to use it against him." Another agreed.

"Yes… We'll try something else first."

The laughs echoed throughout the huge empty space.

* * *

Factoid #11: Kaiba is a Vulcan. Not literally of course, but those who have watched any substantial amount of Star Trek knows what I'm talking about.


	11. Unexpected Skill

**A Day in the Life of Seto** or **Unexpected Skill**

Seto looked up as his alarm sounded. He hadn't slept, once more going over everything that had been in the box he had received about two weeks ago, but turning up almost nothing new. He got ready for school and walked out to the limo with his laptop to await the arrival of the three other passengers.

Sitting in the vehicle made him think of his other problem: that Mutt that had come to the Academy.

He was irritating, at best, or that's what Seto would have liked to think. The Mutt would do something he would usually think idiotic and then Seto would unwillingly find himself _smiling_ at him. Which was highly disconcerting, to say the least.

Finally the other three joined him in the car, and he could tell Atem knew he hadn't slept but neither brought it up. He had always thought that Atem was too caring for others. Nothing would ever get done if he had it his way.

The ride was silent, as usual, and he talked as little as possible as they walked towards their first class. It was a dueling day, meaning all classes were cut down to half an hour long and then the rest of the day would be spent just dueling for improvement.

Not that Seto really needed to improve; only two students had ever beaten him and it was a 50/50 chance for Atem, who had beat Yugi, so the smaller boy had even less of a chance.

As class passed he silently did his work, ignoring how the Mutt would mock Devlin every time he turned around. He did the same in Language arts, managing a snide comment when Wheeler didn't know who Hamlet was.

French was much more entertaining, getting a rise out of Wheeler by saying completely normal things was fun. In the back of his mind, he thought Wheeler looked kind of adorable when he got angry but he instantly shoved that thought away and made a scathing comment about said Mutt anytime it came back.

Science was when things got particularly interesting. Ushio was starting a new unit, Chemistry, and had decided to see if he could embarrass some kids while he was at it.

"Wheeler, list some chemical mixtures and what happens when they're put together." Ushio smirked, thinking that he wouldn't be able to. Honestly, no one thought he'd be able to and Seto was halfway between laughing at Wheeler and glaring at Ushio. He decided to smirk at his paper.

"Ammonia and bleach make poisonous gas, bleach and vinegar makes a different poisonous gas, carbon and sulfur explodes, dat potassium pomegranate powder stuff and glycerin explodes, hydrogen sulfite and nitric acid, chlorine and ammonia, chromic acid and acetic acid, chronic acid and alcohol, all a' those either explode or make more poisonous gas. Uh… Hydrogen peroxide and sulfur acid explodes real quick… Hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid explodes when you heat it up, nitric acid and hydrazine will either catch fire or explode, and sodium phosphide and water make another poisonous gas…" The whole class watched in awe and slight terror as Joey spent half the class rattling off a bunch of chemical mixtures that explode on impact, when heated, when they're put together, after a delayed reaction, ones that catch fire, a ton that produced toxic gasses, and a few that just made really loud noises.

Honestly, Seto hadn't even thought Wheeler knew those words (much less that they did all that) until he said them. But it did bring to question: how exactly did Joey know all that?

"Arson and murder, Mutt?" Seto sneered when he had finally finished.

"I'm more of a Jaywalkin' kinda guy myself," Joey smirked, leaning back smugly.

"Hm." Seto scoffed slightly, returning to his work. Interestingly enough (he hated himself for noticing this), that was the first day that Wheeler looked relaxed in the class. He was sure it had something to do with Yugi and what had happened a few days ago with them showing up to class late and beaten, because it was after _that_ that Wheeler started taking joy in making Seto angry during the classes he didn't have with Yugi as well as the ones he did.

At lunch he was able to think more on this. Looking over at Yugi, it was obvious that he was still shaken up, if not terrified, by the experience as he stuck close to either Wheeler or Atem at all times while at school.

Plus, word of the Phys. Ed. Incident spread quickly, and now most people speculated that Wheeler was like Pegasus (a happy-go-lucky idiot on the outside but secretly unbeatable) except instead of being secretly unbeatable in duel monsters it was in physical fighting. There were also a lot of "origin story" rumors going around, ranging from gang activity to a top-secret job in Gozobura's personal secret service. Seto, personally, was more inclined to think he was in a gang at some point. Not that he stooped to such things as gossip.

After lunch finally finished, they headed off to art. Simply put, Seto didn't do art. Not that he couldn't, he _could_ (thank you very much), he just saw no point in it. Then was the fact he could get away with murder in this class (Mutt better watch his back) because Miho Nosaka, the teacher, seemed to think he was cute.

Which was also disturbing to the highest level, but who was he to judge? It got him out of drawing those… those things Wheeler was drawing. Apparently the Mutt sucked at art as well as French because they were supposed to be drawing a landscape and whatever was happening on Wheeler's paper was not.

Next was History, where the Mutt's friends minus Yugi joined them. Halfway through class he realized it was unusually quiet and looked over to see Wheeler asleep on his desk. Before he gave his lips permission, they had tugged up into a little smile. He quickly looked away, enjoying the silence.

Of course. The silence.

Last class was Physical Education, the only class (other than Chemistry apparently) in which the Mutt had any talent. They were doing Volleyball today and, while Wheeler aced anything to do with mere strength (like American football) and stamina (like track), he didn't seem to get that the point was to make the other team miss. Not to mention he couldn't seem to hit the ball right to save his life.

Seto idly wondered how Joey was at table tennis as he sent another ball into the rafters.

Then it was finally time to duel. Everyone wanted to duel Seto, obviously since he was one of the top duelists at the school. And for that exact reason, he wasn't interested in dueling anyone other than Atem or Yugi. The only two people in the whole school, minus Mr. Crawford, who could beat him in a fair duel. All of the teachers and staff had at least some dueling experience and one of the necessary requirements for graduating was beating them (or at least putting up a good fight depending on the staff member), which Seto had already done. He was really only here for the Academics now.

After he and Atem had yet another duel, (he won this time but, as always, it was very close) he decided to look around for Yugi. Yugi had beaten him, after all, and that needed to be corrected.

He finally found the smaller boy standing next to a duel box with a crowd of other bystanders. The crowd was strangely silent for watching a duel, and when he saw who was dueling he knew why.

The Mutt had accepted a challenge from Hirutani.

"What's going on here?" He asked one of Wheeler's friends, the white-haired Ryo.

"Joey and Hirutani are having a duel, if Joey wins then Hirutani and his gang have to leave us alone…" Ryo trailed off and Seto felt an unwilling pang.

"And what happens if he loses?"

"He has to join, no questions asked," Ryo whispered.

That was why no one was cheering. Everyone wanted Wheeler to win, they all knew of his fighting skills and how devastating it would be for everyone else if the gang got him, but he wouldn't. Everyone had known, since the tournament, that the Mutt didn't have a lick of skill when it came to the card game. They all wanted Joey to win, for their sake, but knew that if they cheered for Joey then they would be the gang's next target.

Not cowardice, common sense.

The Mutt's friends didn't seem to get this concept.

"Go Joey!"

"Don't worry, you have this in the bag!"

"He doesn't have this, does he." It was phrased as a question, but sounded more like a statement coming from the Egyptian who had a name eerily similar to Marik's. It was also whispered to Yugi, but Seto was close enough to hear.

"Actually, he's doing a really good job. He's improved a lot since he first started playing, but sometimes he has these bad luck streaks… But it looks like that's not gonna happen this time. See?" Yugi gestured up to the box, where Joey currently had only his Baby Dragon (1200/700) against Hirutani's Karbonala Battle Ox (3200/2200; a fusion between Karbonala Warrior and Battle Ox).

"Yugi, I might be watching a different duel, because I don't see how Joey could win at all." Malik stated, Seto agreeing fully. Sure, the Mutt was looking all cocky as his turn finally started, but that could just be stupidity. Especially because his life points had just dropped to 1200 while Hirutani's was still at 2200.

"Look at him. I think I know what he's doing, and if it works he should have just enough attack power to finish Hirutani off in one hit." Now _that_ was an intriguing theory. Seto wondered if Wheeler really did have some secret move or if Yugi was merely being idealistic.

Probably the latter.

"Now I play my Time Wizard (500/400) in attack mode! Time Wizard, activate Time Roulette!" A few mutters spread through the crowd as Wheeler tried to stare the Wizard into landing on the one he wanted. And then, finally, it did. "YEAH!" Wind seemed to swirl around the box and turned into a hurricane, blocking the board from view.

"What did Joey do?" Ryo asked as the air started clearing, peering up at the box. The near-albino gasped as he took in the sight.

"And now, thanks ta Time Roulette, Baby Dragon is now, Thousand Dragon (2400/2000)!" Wheeler yelled, looking positively ecstatic.

"Ha! Pathetic. My Karbonala Battle Ox still has 3200 attack! I'm still going to win." Hirutani smirked, but the Mutt just smirked right back.

"That right? Why don't we test that out, huh? Thousand Dragon, attack Karbonala Battle Ox!" The whole crowd groaned, other than Yugi and Seto who just watched. Yugi looking proud and Seto feeling a grudging respect for the fleabag. There might have been a bit of pride at some point, but Seto quickly smashed that by thinking it was only due to the lucky spin on Time Roulette that the "plan" even worked.

The attack went straight through the Karbonala Battle Ox and dropped Hirutani's life points to zero as his monster simply disintegrated.

"I didn't just age my Baby Dragon; I aged your monsters too. And a thousand years makes my Baby Dragon powerful, but it turns your Karbonala Battle Ox to dust!" Joey cheered.

Finally, everyone else joined in, shocked as they were about Wheeler's battle strategy. But he wasn't done yet, he suddenly got serious and glared across the box at Hirutani.

"Now you gotta leave my friends and me alone, got it?" Hirutani smirked and nodded.

"Of course… _Joey_."

* * *

"What was with the way he said your name, Joey? You looked like you saw a ghost…" Ryo asked as they headed off to see Ishizu once more. Joey was beginning to think this whole thing wasn't worth having to visit Ishizu every other day, and then she had to go to work afterwards a lot of the time. It was almost funny how much better she got paid now that she was a Yami.

"Nothin' Ryo. Man, today was a bust. Not to mention embarrassing." She muttered, rubbing her wrist. Seto had challenged Yugi to a duel and then lost again but just by a little bit. He then made a scathing remark and Joey may or may not have overreacted a little bit and grabbed the front of his jacket. Of course, then money-bags floored her by grabbing her wrist and pulling while stepping off to the side. And she couldn't even attack him back or else he would inevitably hit somewhere she _really_ would rather he not even knew she had.

And on top of that Joey was pretty sure Hirutani both knew exactly who she was and wasn't going to stick by their agreement.

Not that it was any sort of big surprise.

* * *

Factoid #12: Joey, being a girl now, has to rely _slightly_ more on her whits than normal guy Joey. She's about up to normal fighting skill now, but it was slower to pick up so in the meantime she actually helped the gang's resident pyro. Hence the chemistry. I also had her mispronounce some of the words because she really didn't care as long as it worked.

Interesting thing: Kaiba's table tennis comment- have you seen the Fruits Basket anime? Imagine Kyo.


	12. Insight

AN: Thanks so much, Fanfiction Lover22! Just for you, this chapter's being uploaded a bit early! And I'll update on Monday as usual as well!

 **A Day in the Life of Tristan** or **Insight**

* * *

What no one knew about Tristan Honda was that he was also the janitor. Which is not something you want advertised in a school of Yamis. Even worse would be if Joey found out, though he supposed he would take relentless good-natured teasing over a bunch of Yamis intentionally making his job harder for fun. He and Joey shared similar views on Yamis.

And both of them had gone to a school filled with Yamis.

But at least the pay was good! Comparatively… not really…

He was starting to think he was as dumb as Joey.

Anyway, in order to keep his little secret job a secret, he had to hide during the passing periods and then jump out and clean as fast as possible during classes.

Like a ninja!

A toilet ninja.

That was a bad analogy. It will never be mentioned again.

Shoving that thought into the back of his mind and locking it in his box of things that will never be mentioned again (it was filled with lots of moments shared with Joey), he returned to his janitor duties. It was almost lunch and he started heading over to the cafeteria for his secondary duties as a chef and server.

 _RING!_

Tristan froze for half a second and then bolted towards the kitchen like the hounds of hell were after him. He stumbled into the kitchen only moments before the hall was flooded with Yamis on their way to lunch.

He sighed in relief as he took up his post and started serving out sandwiches almost robotically.

"Hey Tris." Tristan blinked as he heard the whisper, recognizing it as Joey immediately. She was standing a little bit down the line, standing right in front of- Crap!

Hirutani? What one earth was she thinking?!

"Hey, meet me after school in the secondary square," she stage whispered, making Tristan wonder what the heck she was up to. Then she lowered her voice so that only he could hear and continued, "and expect some company." Tristan blinked in confusion but nodded anyway. The secondary square was a part of the campus that people usually didn't go to, and a lot of people didn't even know it was there.

And saying something like that in front of Hirutani? She was thick, but even Joey wasn't thick enough to do that…

 _Expect company…_

Oh! She wasn't being thick; she wanted him to help her beat up the old gang! Awesome!

The unbeatable street-fighting duo was back! Joey and Tristan!

…Tristan and Joey?

Why did everyone say Joey first? It was hardly fair, and it wasn't even alphabetical! Was it?

ABCDEFG–

"Hey pipsqueak! You gonna give me my lunch or what?" Hirutani demanded, knocking Tristan back into the real world. Tristan paled and bowed slightly in apology.

"S-sorry. Here you go." He said, quickly dishing out the food while trying not to look directly at his former _technical_ gang leader. Tristan had never really, officially, been in a gang. He just kind of… helped Hirutani on special occasions. That was the only reason the big boss was way more pissed at Joey leaving than he was at Tristan.

He sighed in relief once more when Hirutani merely scoffed and then walked away. The fight would certainly be an interesting encounter.

As he went about his janitorial duties during the afternoon classes, he pondered about how the fight would go. Hirutani had probably figured out who Joey was by now, she hadn't even changed her name for Pete's sake, so he probably had the whole gang coming in to take her down. It had been a while since he had got in a real fight (those sissies in the normal boys school had nothing on Joey). Since he had moved away from Joey, actually. They used to be the unbeatable duo of the streets, and he really hoped that they'd be able to fight in sync like they had back then or else this whole thing was gonna go very badly.

Seeing that the last class of the day was about to get out, Tristan sprinted for the janitorial closet, threw all the supplies in and locked it as fast as he could, and then high-tailed it to the secondary square hoping no one had seen. Luckily, it seemed that no one had.

He then waited in the square for Joey to arrive; he knew they wouldn't attack until she had. Which was a stupid idea in the fact she would have him with her and that would tip the balance so they won, but if they were busy beating him up she'd get the drop on them and the duo would win anyway. It was a lose-lose situation for the gang, they just didn't know it yet.

"Hey Tristan!" Joey called, walking into the square.

"Hey Joey. Why'd you want to meet?" He replied, playing along perfectly as he surveyed the area. It really was a good place to have a counter-ambush set up.

It was a square courtyard (basically a normal room with no ceiling), completely devoid of any plant life or any other obstructions. That made it easy for two people facing each other to keep an eye on the whole place. It had four entrances, one on each wall and each had heavy wooden doors hinged in front of them. Another tactic, as they could hear anyone open the doors. One door was already open, the one to Joey's left, as an easy access route so they knew which way the gang was likely to come in from. Said door was also within both parties' visual area.

Joey might be a complete blockhead, but she was the strategic planner for a reason.

"Oh, it's nothin' really important," Joey shrugged, making sure to keep her voice completely normal and her eyes on Tristan while she let her peripheral vision look for movement. "We just never hang out for fun anymore, so I thought we might go to the arcade or somethin'." Tristan did the same and as she finished he noticed a flicker of movement behind her.

"Isn't it funny how we always end up in situations like these?" Tristan asked, smiling slightly.

"Ha! Yeah, it is," Joey agreed wholeheartedly. And right when Joey finished that sentence, both turned in unison and socked whoever was behind them.

It seemed like a weird turn in the conversation, but that was what they had always done. One of them asked a pre-planned question; that meant that someone was trying to sneak up on the other. If the other replied with a laugh and a conformation then someone was trying to sneak up on the first too, but if the second replied in the negative it was only them being stalked.

They had, of course, changed the question when they left the gang. And now they would need to change it again.

The two people they had hit had indeed been from the old gang, and with one glance they could tell there were about ten surrounding them. They assumed Hirutani was watching from behind the ring because, while he was a good fighter, he didn't like to get his hands dirty. He left that to the others.

That was the second mistake he made, as he was the only one who could beat Joey one-on-one.

Mistake number three was only coming two at a time, like a bunch of chivalrous mooks.

Instinctively, Joey and Tristan went back-to-back and started throwing and blocking punches like experts. Two more went down and as Tristan ducked a punch, Joey took the opportunity to send a kick over his head at the attacker, knocking him back. This opened Joey for attack from the back or sides and one landed a punch right on her rib cage, setting her off-balance for a moment. Tristan hit the guy, knocking him to the ground, and then did his best to cover for Joey as she recovered. She was back in a snap, attacking with a vengeance now. The remaining six all came at once in hopes of taking them down by numbers and force.

The fight escalated and everyone got hit a lot. At some point Hirutani joined the fray, causing the balance to tip on the gang's favor for a while. But, soon enough, the ground was littered with unconscious gang members (who had actually just gotten in each other's way, making them easier to beat) and Joey was menacing the half-conscious Hirutani. Tristan watched in satisfaction as Joey began putting Hirutani in his place.

"Listen up, Hirutani, 'cuz I'm gonna say dis only one more time. If ya mess wit me a' my friends again, we'll do worse dan-"

 ** _CREEEEAK!_**

Tristan and Joey froze and looked over at the door that had creaked, Joey still holding Hirutani up by his shirt.

Peering into the courtyard, and seemingly shocked at what they were seeing, were Yugi, Ryo, Malik, Marik, Bakura, Atem, and even Mr. Seto Kaiba himself. Joey immediately dropped Hirutani (who landed on his face) and stepped backwards while Tristan found all the satisfaction leaking out of him, replaced by dread.

He was so going to get fired for this! How was he going to get out of this one? Joey was the strategic planner, but Tristan was the one who usually talked their way out of things. He would try to talk their way out of it, but he didn't think _the_ Seto Kaiba would find that very amusing…

There was only one option.

"He started it!" They yelled, pointing at each other. The bystanders watched in exasperation as they continued their argument in unison. "Why you- No I didn't! Stop copying me! I'm not, you are! Grrr…" They had their fists balled and were glaring at each other in apparent hatred; their foreheads were pressed together as they both tried to glare the other into giving up. Finally, after about ten seconds of nothing but glaring and growling, both blinked, stepped back, and pointed at Hirutani. "He attacked us first."

It was true. They may have set him up for failure, but Hirutani had attacked first. Though technically that wasn't true as they threw the first punches, but they didn't _force_ anyone to try and sneak up on them. They just picked the time, location, and company.

All the bystanders looked at the bloodied and unconscious gang leader in semi-disbelief. It was completely within his character to start a fight, but to start one and not win it? The only way to beat all eleven gang members present with only two people was to get the drop on them. Even if the duo was Joey and Tristan.

But Joey and Tristan _had_ got the drop on them with their first spinning-punch attacks. Which may or may not mean that they technically started the fight.

"Joey! Are you alright?!" Yugi cried, running out with the other two girls to check on their friend. The Yamis just surveyed the scene, once again grudgingly applauding Joey for her fighting skills. Tristan surveyed the seven suspiciously; Joey had never really been one to make friends easily. So who were these people?

"Hey Joey, who're they?" He asked as the three bishi-men started fussing over his oldest friend (that he was still friends with) as she insisted she was fine. Joey rolled her eyes and, unbeknownst to Tristan, mentally asked herself why she was friends with a blockhead.

"Tristan; Yugi, Malik, Ryo. Remember, I told ya about them." Tristan blinked.

Yugi, Malik, and Ryo? Let's see…

Gang?

He looked at them once more.

Most definitely not.

But Joey talked about them? Let's see, last time they had really got to talk was in the tree house when Joey told him about…

Oh. _That_ Yugi, Malik, and Ryo.

Joey gave a long-suffering sigh as Tristan's face finally showed understanding.

"Really Joey? _This_ is them? How'd they pass as-" Next thing Tristan knew, Joey had him in a headlock.

"Shut up, Tristan!" She hissed, making Tristan remember that they weren't the only ones in the room.

"What exactly is going on here?" Atem asked, stepping fully into the room and looking at the eleven people lying on the ground and the worse-for-wear duo behind it.

Joey, much to Tristan's relief, decided to let him out of the headlock before answering. "I guess ya want some real answers, huh?" Atem raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Seto looked at the unconscious men impassively, but Tristan could have sworn he was glaring. Bakura and Marik seemed overjoyed with the destruction around them. Ryo and Malik looked cautious but interested and Yugi looked just plain nervous. Tristan looked at Joey in disbelief. She wasn't seriously going to spill the beans just like that, was she?

"Dis guy," Joey kicked Hirutani none-too gently and with no remorse, "is da leada of a gang I used ta be in with Tris." She jerked a thumb at said boy, who was still looking suspiciously at everyone. "And if ya hadn't noticed, he kinda wants me back in."

"But Joey, how could you possibly be in a gang with-" Tristan knew what the little white-haired girl was about to say. _Male Yamis._ She had better not finish though; Joey didn't take too kindly to people questioning her fighting skills. Joey cut her off before she could.

"When you're ten, da world's a playground," Joey sneered, obviously meaning that it was _anything_ but a playground. Tristan gave her a small, sympathetic frown. His life hadn't exactly been sunshine and rainbows, but compared to Joey, he had it good. A lot of people had it good when compared to Joey. He was busy sympathizing, and so missed the shocked looks of everyone else in the room.

Ten?! No wonder she was so good at what she did. But what all wanted to know, some more than others, was what on earth had driven her to join a gang so young.

Tristan ignored them as Joey turned to face him.

"I wasn't kiddin', ya wanna go get some burgers or somethin'?" She asked as if she hadn't just blown the minds of her friends and four Yamis.

Tristan didn't have to think about his answer; of course he wanted to go. The issue was, he couldn't let Joey pay (he _knew_ about her financial situation dag nabbit), but if he said he would pay Joey would take it as a personal insult. Time to pull out one of the old tricks.

"Yeah! Let's go to Burger World! You're paying," Tristan said, marching ahead with a huge grin, only to be once again captured in a headlock.

"What a gentleman!" She said sarcastically as Tristan tried to struggle out of her grip. "Say you'll pay and I'll let ya go!"

"Fine, fine! I'll pay!" Tristan finally snapped, causing Joey to release him and saunter out like some sort of superstar, teasing Tristan the whole way. Neither noticed the venomous glare that a certain brown-haired blue-eyed man was sending after them.

Because they were street scum. Obviously.

"So Joey, I heard you won the pot in one of the betting rings. What're you gonna do with that much money?" Tristan asked a while later as they both munched on burgers. Most people would think $1,000 wasn't that much. But for Joey, who lived on like $50 a month (free meals and mooching for the win!), it was like heaven. They were certainly enjoying the awesome privileges that came with being/being with a Yami.

Did you know that Yamis got paid more _and_ didn't have to pay as much? What the heck was up with that?

Not that Tristan was complaining now that he had a "Yami" friend.

"Emergencies. Debts, mostly." Joey shrugged, taking another bite of her burger. Tristan nodded. Most people would have thought Joey had already spent it on something trivial like… a life supply of cheap snack food (she did love food) but Tristan knew that, even if Joey was a blockhead a lot, she knew how to handle money. After all, she was the one who paid the bills, got the food, and at least _tried_ to pay off her father's debts. Not that the last one ever worked very well, as her dad just kept piling it up.

And then there were the hospital bills…

Which was why Tristan wouldn't have let her pay for the burgers they were eating even if she insisted. And, knowing Joey, the easiest way to do that was to tell her to pay. Saved all the drama of her being insulted about him thinking she couldn't take care of herself, which he didn't think anyway.

"Speakin' of which, I betta check on him before I go ta work." Tristan's head jerked up as he heard his friend speak.

Check on him? Did she not remember the _last time_ she had told him she was just going to check on him? She had shown up on his doorstep just a little while later and, well… Let it just be said that Tristan was pretty sure he hated her dad.

Obviously seeing his expression, Joey sighed.

"Look Tristan, you know he's not always like dat. It was just a bad day, he's probably just passed out on the couch right now anyway. I just need ta put some food on the counter and den make sure the rent's paid." Tristan still didn't like it. Yes, Joey's dad was actually pretty nice when he was sober, but that was kind of the problem. Joey's dad was almost never sober, and he could be a very violent drunk on a bad day.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you," Tristan stated and, ignoring Joey's protests and grumbling, drove her to her apartment. It actually went pretty well. As Joey had predicted, her father was passed out on the couch and the ground around him was littered with bottles. Despite what Joey had said about not worrying, Tristan noticed that she took every possible measure to make sure he wouldn't wake up while she was in the apartment. She had him put the food on the counter for her father's consumption whenever he was awake enough to do so as she tried to clean up as quietly as possible. Mostly the glass bottles near her dad, as she had enough experience with them to know that they hurt.

As she was doing that, Tristan realized that there was a patch near the door where there seemed to be several shattered bottles. He started helping clean, he knew her dad didn't like it when the apartment was dirty even though he caused the messes and refused to clean them up, and as he cleared more and more of the glass shards away he was able to see something below them. Little droplets of something that had sunk into the carpet and dried, probably to stay.

Blood.

Tristan scowled deeply at the substance. He knew whose it was, he knew who caused it; he was just glad that it appeared to be old. After all, if she had been hit with a bottle it would at least affect her performance a bit… right?

Right.

"Let's go," Joey muttered as she approached him. He didn't argue, following her out without a sound and closing the door quietly. As soon as they were out, Tristan couldn't help but notice that Joey gave a sigh of relief. "Right. Could ya give me a ride back to the campus?" Joey asked, suddenly back to her usual, chipper self. The campus was a while away, almost two hours walking, maybe 45 minutes driving, and 35 if that driver was Joey. Tristan was more sane and safety-consious than his friend; he'd probably go a mile _under_ the speed limit the whole time.

"Sure. But don't you have work tonight?" Tristan asked, recalling their earlier conversation.

"Yeah, but it's a lot closer to the campus than it is to here. Plus I don't wanna walk back, so I'm just gonna take the car." Tristan shuddered and, if he didn't know better, he could have sworn he saw Joey smirk a bit.

His job at school was about to get a lot more interesting. With Joey attending, how could it not?

* * *

Factoid #13: Sometimes Joey calls Tristan his full name and other times Tris. Usually she calls him Tristan in high-pressure situations, including when she is angry or annoyed (which is a lot), or when introducing him to someone. Tris is more when they're just hanging out together. Occasionally Tristan will call Joey Joe.


	13. Twinsies!

**A Day in the Life of Joey** or **Twinsies**

* * *

Joey was asleep. It was nice, since Joey didn't really get much sleep. She could fall asleep just about anywhere, anytime, but she was always so busy (what with three jobs and keeping psychotic Yamis away from her friends) and she was a very light sleeper.

"Joey?"

Ah, there it went again. That accursed "talent" of hers to wake up at the call of her name. It was more of an acquired skill really, she had to be able to wake up quickly in her apartment, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

She opened her eyes slowly, not really being able to see clearly yet, and sat up sluggishly. Her mind seemed to think she didn't need to wake up quickly at all, and she was quite inclined to agree with it as she made her way in the direction she thought the bathroom was to get ready.

She was in no danger. The voice saying her name was Yugi, and she had whispered it quietly. It would have been different if she had yelled. The outcome would have probably warranted many, many apologies.

Oh well, that didn't really matter seeing as it hadn't happened.

She flicked on the light in the bathroom, blinking and looking sluggishly around. As she closed the door her eyes caught on a white bundle of fabric stuffed behind it. For some reason she felt as if that cloth was important, but couldn't put her finger on it…

Shoot! Joey's eyes snapped open and she stumbled backwards as she realized why. She reached tentatively forward and pulled up the fabric, groaning when she realized she was right.

It was one of her white shirts that she had taken to wearing instead of button-ups, but it had slices on the back in some places as well as red stains and a few pieces of dark brown glass…

This had to go.

Later, in first period, Joey stared blankly at Duke Devlin as he tried to explain the quadratic formula.

Plus or minus? How can it be both?! What does math have to do with plants? What's with all the letters?! This is Math, not Language Arts for heaven's sake!

Joey was mentally ripping her hair out as she looked at her paper. Duke could totally see it too, Joey was sure he was ignoring her utter confusion just to spite her. Not that she would ever admit she was confused in a room full of Yamis. She'd just ask Yugi to help out when they got back to the dorm.

Language Arts didn't go much better. They had a test about Shakespeare and the Elizabethan period, not that Joey remembered what either of those were.

Who wrote Macbeth? Eh… Hamlet? No… that other guy, what's his name, shake-a-leg. Shake… Shakesteak… Shakespeare!

Now, how on Earth is Romeo and Juliet considered romantic?... And which one's Romeo and Juliet?

Next was French, probably Joey's least favorite class. It was even worse than art, which was the class where she had only Kaiba in (No Yugi, Ryo, Malik, or even Atem). Which was impressive.

The reason for this being that she just couldn't understand French. Russian? German? Alright, those were acceptable. Love languages? There seemed to be some sort of mental block. Usually she'd just shrug it off, but Kaiba could speak it perfectly! Therefore, he was justifiably better at something than her. WHICH WAS _NOT_ ACCEPTABLE!

"Le chien est un idiot," Kaiba stated nonchalantly.

Le chien est un idiot. Le chien est un meant absolutely nothing to Joey, but the last word was _definitely_ idiot. And there was only one person Kaiba would be talking about!

"What'd you say about me, Money-Bags?" She growled, giving him her fieriest glare (the one that would melt most people's faces off).

"Not everything is about you, Wheeler," Kaiba replied, giving her an icy glare to match (and effectively countering her own glare). Everyone else in the room could practically see lightning zapping between the two and the one person dumb enough to walk between them was sent to the infirmary after they went into shock. He was muttering something about being frozen and burned and eternal torture and "this must be what hell feels like"… no one really wanted to try it for themselves, but Marik thought his reaction was hilarious and Joey thought he was a wimp.

The next class was Science, where Joey grudgingly sat in her assigned seat. Which was next to Kaiba. Just like in most of her other classes.

Joey really did think that if there was some being controlling fate, it hated her.

Kaiba just loved to point out Joey's mistakes and then not tell her how to fix them, not that she'd expect any different from rich-boy. So Joey had taken to staring at him for a moment, listing off one of the explosive thingamajigs, nodding her head, and then returning to her work with a devious smirk.

Not that she would actually blow up Kaiba's room…

She didn't know where it was after all.

And science had only got worse since she had listed off all those explosions and fires and gasses and loud-noises starter things. For some reason, Ushio had taken this as a personal insult and was now on a mission to make her life suck for as long as she was in Science.

On the upside, people seemed much more eager to help her after her little display of pyrotechnics.

She wondered why that was.

Anyway, lunch was a normal affair what with her group of friends keeping to themselves and Kaiba's group of friends keeping to themselves and _Kaiba_ starting something that grew into a full-blown argument with her. He did start it too. Every time.

In Art, Joey stared at what she was painting in complete concentration. Her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, she drew the last few lines to finish the work of art and sat back with a huge grin. It was a masterpiece! It was the best drawing in the whole room, the school even! Why, if she entered it into an art show it would probably-

"What is that, Mutt? You are aware you're supposed to be drawing an animal, right?" Kaiba asked rudely, looking at the painting in distaste.

"It's an animal, Kaiba! Just 'cuz you're da teachers pet and you're givin'-" Joey cut off, thinking about what Yugi would say if she finished that thought. She'd probably be scandalized, and tell Joey to apologize and bla-de-bla-de-bla. Better not say it. She bit her tongue and sat back down, stewing over the smug look Kaiba was giving her.

"Good boy. Mutts shouldn't bark at their masters."

 _RING!_

Joey stormed out of the room before she could do something she would regret, hurrying over to History and avoiding Kaiba until Ryo and Malik finally showed up and saved her from that extremely tempting urge to punch Kaiba out. The only reason she hadn't yet was that she was sure doing it would get her expelled, and she couldn't leave Yugi and the others alone in this school.

Kaiba didn't know how close to death he was right there…

Joey scarcely heard anything that the Professor said, trying to ignore Kaiba. He wasn't doing anything outwardly, but Joey was sure he was feeling smug. He was smirking at her mentally, she just knew it. Gosh, she hated him so much! And she couldn't even get into a real fight with him, or else he would _definitely_ figure out she was a girl!

She was still seething as she headed to Phys. Ed. with Malik and met up with Yugi there. But she grinned viciously when Mai told them what they were going to do today. It involved punching bags.

Joey stood silently in front of her punching bag for a moment, just breathing and standing with her eyes closed. She could tell everyone was watching her. They had heard her reputation and wanted to know if it was true. She stood or a moment longer, took one more breath, then her eyes snapped open and she released all her fury at Kaiba on the bag in front of her. All other sounds in the gym ceased until she finally stopped, breathing heavily but smirking.

This was therapeutic, just like when she would go to the gym when she was really angry since she had stopped getting in street fights purposefully years ago. It helped that all the bumps and bruises from the fights with Hirutani were gone, as well as the scratches from… something else. Not important.

She turned around with her normal chipper grin, ignoring the sad state of the previously new punching bag.

"You're up, Yuug." She said cheerfully, then shooting Kaiba a nasty smirk and relishing the fact that his eyes were slightly wider than usual. And then she went over to the stands and laid down, eyes closed and hands behind her head. She didn't even notice the ten-foot radius all the other students gave her for the rest of the block. Now they knew not to make her mad.

"C'mon, guys!" Joey said later, as she, Yugi, Ryo, and Malik were heading back to their dorm room.

"Joey, where's your math book? It has the homework in it." Malik pointed out as she saw how unburdened by books Joey was. Joey fell, popping up a second later and speeding back into the school.

"I'll catch up!" She called over her shoulder as she ran. It took her about ten minutes to find the math book (she had to check several classrooms) on the bleachers in the Gym. Sighing in relief, she turned and started heading back out. And, of course, that was when she ran into someone. She thanked whatever deity actually cared about her (there _had_ to be at least one, right?) that she had been holding the math book in front of her chest when she had run into whoever it was.

That didn't stop her from falling though. Before she had to pull out one of her evasive tricks to stop her from hitting the ground too hard (she had to get _something_ from being in a gang), a hand shot out and grabbed her upper left arm and yanked her back up. She stared at the arm in shock for a moment. That design, the red tattoo on the right forearm, it matched the green one on her left forearm perfectly.

* * *

DUNN DUNN DUNN!

WHO COULD IT BE?!

As if you don't know.

Factoid #14: Joey's concept of book smart goes to "add about twice as much X to Y and it blows up". She's more of a practical smartness. And by that, I mean she can't understand quadratics for the life of her, but if told what to do she can follow instructions and she's more of a common sense sort of person.


	14. Conniptions

**A Day in the Life of Joey Part 2** or **Conniptions**

* * *

So... I accidentally updated the chapter _after_ this one and totally didn't realize it until today... heh...

Recap: _She stared at the arm in shock for a moment. That design, the red tattoo on the right forearm, it matched the green one on her left forearm perfectly._

* * *

Oh no. Nonono. She didn't need some Yami being her soul mate! But it was only that one arm… he probably didn't even have one on his left arm. Yeah, total coincidence. She looked up and her heart just about stopped beating.

Was he looking kind of concerned? No. No he wasn't. Because he was Kaiba. Seto Kaiba.

Seto _FREAKING_ Kaiba.

Coincidence. Coincidence! COINCIDENCE!

"I don't need your help, Kaiba," she snarled, yanking her arm away from his grip which had loosened when she had looked up. He scoffed, anything that may have been mistaken for concern disappearing.

"If I had known it was you, Wheeler, I would have let you fall," he stated, wiping his hand on his jacket as if just touching her jacket had got him dirty. With anyone else she may have thought it was a lie, but this was Kaiba. And she had no doubt that if he had realized it was her when he first saw her he'd probably have tripped her on purpose rather than just let her fall.

Realizing he was wearing the school jacket, Joey frowned slightly and looked back at his arms. Why were they uncovered? Ah, the sleeves were rolled up.

Oh. Oh Ra. Maybe there wasn't a Deity that liked her. Or maybe that Deity was just less liked than the hordes of gods and goddesses and fate-controlling beings that hated her.

His other tattoo matched hers to the last detail.

Joey stared in horrified disbelief at the patch of air Kaiba's arm had been in when she saw his tattoo. There was no way. There was just no way that life hated her this much. It was statistically impossible, or at least she thought it should be because this was seriously ridiculous.

"Wheeler? Hey, Mutt," Kaiba called, trying to get her attention. She hardly heard him, still staring at that same patch of air. It must have looked like she was gaping at something behind him because his eyes slid to his left to try and spot what she was so surprised at. And as soon as he looked away Joey did the one thing she could think of.

She bolted.

* * *

Back in the Gym, Kaiba glared at his right hand. He had, in fact, seen that it was the Mutt and he had been completely fine with letting her fall over and then making a snide remark about her clumsiness. But when she had actually started to fall, he saw the surprise on the shorter student's face and his hand had shot out and pulled the Mutt back up without his permission.

* * *

Yugi looked up in surprise as the door to the dorm slammed open, Joey rushed in, and then slammed the door closed. She looked like she had seen a ghost, eyes wide and skin pale as she leaned against the now-closed door.

"Nonononono!" Joey said almost frantically, pushing off the door and starting to pace. "Dis can't be happenin'! He isn't- dis- Dis is all his fault!" She was running her fingers through her hair, sounding like she was trying to convince herself of something.

"Joey?" Yugi asked, realizing that Joey hadn't even noticed she was there.

"Dat's it, he must a' found out! He found out and… and he got someone like Ishizu to change his… or he painted it on… or… or somethin'! He just wanted to freak me out, arrogant jerk, and dat's why he caught me, and why his sleeves were pulled up! He planned da whole thing!"

"Joey!" Yugi called, seeing that her friend was basically having a mental breakdown. "What happened? Who are you talking about?"

"Kaiba damnit!" Joey yelled, stomping like a child. "He's got my tattoos! He did it on purpose, I know he did!" Yugi blinked in surprise.

"Joey… How would Kaiba know what your tattoos were? How would he know if you were a Hikari, or a girl, in the first place?"

"I dunno, maybe money-bags paid someone off! He probably has the whole world's tattoos on his computer or somethin'!"

"Even if that were true, Joey, why would he want to imitate yours?" Yugi prodded gently.

"I dunno! He probably wanted ta freak me out!"

"Well… are you sure they match? I mean, I couldn't pick out my tattoos without looking first," Yugi pointed out, hoping to get her friend to calm down. It was true that most people have to compare tattoos down to the last little thing to be sure, seeing as most only have a general idea of what theirs look like, but Joey was sure.

"Look Yuug, I could draw my tattoos right now on a piece of paper. Dat's kinda what happens if ya spend half a' your life trying to glare 'em inta changin' colors," she replied, not calmed down at all.

"Then maybe Kaiba _is_ your soul mate. Maybe he wouldn't be so bad if he knew you were a girl and a Hikari, and he just thinks it's weird being attracted to another Yami, who's a boy!" Yugi asked, pointing out the one thing that Joey didn't want to consider.

The worst part is that it would explain some things if he really was her "soul mate". The reason, mostly, she had been so predisposed to hate him was that she immediately had a tiny subconscious soft spot for him, and she didn't like that. She never trusted anyone right off the bat, and the fact she kind of did for him only made her not trust him. At least it was Friday, so she wouldn't have to deal with him for the weekend.

"Easy for you ta say! At least Atem's kinda nice and-"

"Wait, what's Atem got to do with this?" Yugi asked, cutting Joey off. Joey immediately paled and clamped her hands over her mouth. Her denial came out slightly muffled. Yugi looked back on the conversation, trying to find what she was missing.

They were talking about soul mates… Joey said she was sure her and Kaiba's tattoos matched so Yugi tried to assure her he was only being so mean because he was freaked out…And then Joey said that was easy for her to say because _Atem_ is nice? That made absolutely no sense! Unless…

"Joey… Is Atem my soul mate?"

"Eh…" Joey muttered, looking like a deer caught in headlights. That was all Yugi needed to confirm her suspicions.

"Joey, why didn't you tell me?! How did you even know?" Yugi asked, jumping up in shock. Joey flinched backwards slightly, knowing that it was pretty creepy.

"He doesn't exactly hide his tattoo! I thought they looked familiar, so when you and him were duelin' I looked at da pictures I had on my phone and they matched!" She yelled defensively, even though her face had turned red and she was avoiding eye contact. It still sounded creepy.

Yugi stopped to think about it a moment. It would make sense that Joey knew; she did have pictures of Yugi with her tattoo exposed on her phone, plus it would explain why Joey had trusted Atem to watch over her when she wasn't there. It would also explain why Atem kept helping her out with little things.

"… I guess it's fine." Yugi sighed, sitting back down. "I was just surprised. Anyway, did you get your math book?"

"Eh? Oh, yeah. Here it is." Joey picked up the book she had dropped on the floor when she had rushed in. "Could you help me with the homework, Yuug?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

"What's the Py…Pith…Pythagogea theorem?"

Yugi looked at her in disbelief.

* * *

Factoid #15: Gozobura actually does have a database of every person with their tattoos, plus who each person's soul mate is. On this database, four files were removed because they were the soul mates to his pawns and if they found each other they would theoretically be much harder to control.

Plus, Yugi gets over the whole being Atem's soulmate thing so quickly because she knows that while they're disguised as guys, and yamis for that matter, there isn't much she could do about it without seeming super weird.


	15. Plain Sight and Observations

AN: Ryou and Malik's days are combined because they were both really short.

 **A Day in the Life of Ryou** or **Hiding in plain sight**

* * *

Ryo kept her eyes to the floor as she scuttled down the hall to her third class, her books hugged to her chest as if to shield her. The class she was headed to was Phys. Ed., also the first class that none of the other Hikaris were in. That was why she was so nervous. Even though she had been in this school for almost a month now, she still wasn't used to walking around with a bunch of Yamis.

When she got to the gymnasium, she spotted Bakura and Atem standing near one entrance and silently made her way over and stood next to the other white-haired person. No one ever bothered him, so Ryo knew she was safe here and he didn't seem to mind her too much. Of course he hardly talked to her, but he didn't glare or anything like that so she assumed he was okay with her basically using him as a meat shield (though that was usually Joey's job).

"Hello Ryo," Atem greeted, smiling at her. He was pretty much the only person who talked to her other than Joey, Malik, and Yugi. She gave him a shaky smile in return, but then blinked in surprise as Bakura (who had been standing a little bit in front of both of them) stepped in between them, glaring silently at the opposite wall. Atem raised an eyebrow, looking both surprised and confused, and Ryo just shrugged slightly in response. How would she know what the silent Yami was thinking?

Just as Atem looked like he was going to say something (he looked decidedly amused now though Ryo couldn't even begin to think why) Mai Valentine came into the gym.

Ryo was really ashamed to say that, while she was Joey's favorite teacher, Ryo didn't really like her that much at all. That may have something to do with the fact that she took way to much joy in seeing how long it took for Ryo to mess up. She wasn't a physical person.

When Phys. Ed. was (thankfully) over, Ryo scampered to Science as quickly as possible. She was definitely eager to see Joey again. When she got to the classroom she practically teleported next to the taller girl, causing Joey to yell and jump backwards.

"NYEH! Geez, Ryo! Don't sneak up on me like dat!"

"Sorry, Joey," she said in her British accent, lowering her head sadly. She hadn't meant to scare Joey, she just liked being inconspicuous so she didn't make much noise.

"Eh, it's alright," Joey dismissed, waving her hand as if shooing the matter away. That was one thing that Ryo really liked about Joey: once you were friends with her she would practically do anything for you, and she also didn't hold grudges unless you did something to directly hurt her friends on purpose. Sure she had had a quick temper and she'd get angry at every other thing that happened on a bad day, but she'd get over it really quickly and could become friends with practically anyone.

As she was thinking this, Joey's face suddenly got just the tiniest bit paler and she whipped around so her back was to the door.

Not everyone, Ryo reminded herself, already knowing who had just walked into the room. But, just to make sure, she looked and confirmed her suspicions.

Seto Kaiba, pretty much the only person Ryo knew that could get Joey to hate them through-and-through. Of course her current actions weren't due to hate, it was because she had found something out a week ago. Ryo and Malik had been out shopping when she found out, and it took a lot of begging and persuading to get Yugi to tell them what was up (obviously something was because Joey was avoiding Seto like the plague and wasn't getting into arguments with him) but eventually she cracked. And it turns out that the only person that Joey hates through-and-through (that Ryo knew of anyway) was literally the other half of her soul.

Joey had the worst luck Ryo had ever seen.

The rest of Science passed as well as could be expected, as well as Lunch. Then came French, the class Ryo dreaded the most. None of the other Hikaris were in it, not even any of the four Yamis that she actually knew were in it. And it was a class based on talking to people. She was pretty sure that none of the Yamis in that class actually knew she was in the class, or they wouldn't if the teacher, Tea Mazaki, didn't insist that they interact with her so that she could make friends.

The next class was History, with Joey and Malik. That went considerably better than most other classes, as she had two friends with her and the teacher was a decent guy.

Last class was Art, which she had with Bakura. She walked into the room in silence and spotted him sitting next to an empty chair. She headed over and gave him a tentative smile as she sat; a look he hardly spared a glance to.

As always.

* * *

 **A Day in the Life of Malik** or **Observations**

Malik exchanged a surprised glance with Yugi and Ryo as, while they were walking to Math the next day, Seto and Joey got into another argument.

Malik thought that maybe Joey had noticed the Yamis getting suspicious and decided to cut the crap and go back to whatever like nothing had happened. Joey seemed pretty good at that.

Basically, she was in forced denial.

They were still arguing when they arrived at the classroom. Malik sighed as she sat down and focused on what Duke was teaching them.

The next class was French, which she really didn't see the point to seeing as she was fluent. Though it was kind of funny to hear people's screw ups and, being a Hikari, she did like helping them. After laughing to herself for a while.

The next class was Science, which may have been one of her favorite classes if they had a different teacher simply because none of her friends were in it. Not to get her wrong, she really loved her friends, but she liked learning and they were distracting.

Art she had with Marik, who seemed to like tormenting her. Though the "tormenting" also seemed like a teasing sort of thing, like how Joey showed she was friends with you. So Malik thought that maybe they were friends… sort of.

Lunch was normal, other than Joey ending up vaulting over the counter to whack Tristan and then deciding to drag him over to their table (after he was done serving) to eat with them. Malik smirked when she caught Seto glaring slightly at Tristan before he caught himself and didn't look up from his laptop the rest of lunch.

Afterward was Language Arts, where only Marik was with her again. It was kind of annoying, but she got through it fine. History was better, as she was with Joey and Ryo and she actually shared the professor's love for Egypt (having grown up there and all).

Her last class was Phys. Ed. with Joey and Yugi (plus Marik and Seto), which she couldn't honestly say she was fond of. Mai was alright, but while Malik could hold her own for a little while during physical activity she wasn't the best. Besides, Joey and Mai seemed to have struck up some sort of friendship, which was kind of weird.

Malik had noticed it about two weeks into the school year that sometimes Joey and the teacher would just stand around and talk for a little bit (there was always some raucous laughter thrown in too), though that didn't stop Mai from getting joy out of trying to tire Joey out. Nor did it stop Joey from glaring at Mai when she had to do two more laps than everyone else because she was the only one still standing (even if it was just barely standing, no matter what Joey would tell you). Other than Seto that is, because it seemed to be a constant competition between the two. And Seto would win almost every single time.

Which was pretty darn sad.

* * *

Factoid #16: Joey and Kaiba have a complicated relationship, mostly because both of them are in denial 99.7% of the time (the other 0.3% is revelation and freaking out before retreating back into denial).


	16. Resignation and Bright Side

AN: Once again, two days in one. This time Bakura and Marik!

 **A Day in the Life of Bakura** or **Resignation**

* * *

Bakura grumbled darkly as that idiotic device called an "alarm clock" went off. Still only half awake, he reached up and chucked it as hard as he could. Luckily it stopped beeping at him. He then sat up, glaring darkly at the now-smashed device (Atem was going to lecture him again, he was sure). Usually he wouldn't have thrown it so hard (and on a _really_ good day not at all) but the dark bags under his eyes were a testament to how late he had been up and sneaking around.

And it wasn't even on his own terms (like he did regularly without permission), it was on a job for Gozobura. That was why he had such a great room. It was bigger than Atem's and Seto's and just about on par with Marik's. Atem and Seto were being kept here by that Mokuba kid (he had been taken before Bakura was caught) because they had some business savvy and could eventually be owners of Kaibacorp, but he and Marik were here because of their acquired skills.

He stood up from the silk sheets and glared around the room in disgust. Gozobura thought he could buy him off, but it wasn't going to work. Sure the luxury was nice, and having people at his beck and call was even better. But he was a thief, and being handed all of this nice stuff with the expectation that he takes it and uses it was just no fun at all. And when Gozobura realized that, that was when he had put the stupid anklet thing on him.

He shook off those thoughts; they weren't worth his time. Besides, he'd be able to leave when they found the Mokuba kid and Seto seemed to think he was getting close.

When they arrived at Math, Bakura plopped down in his seat and ignored everything that Duke was saying. He never did homework anyway. Next was Language Arts which he had with only Seto (and Ryo, Yugi, and Joey). He started bugging Joey halfway through because he got bored of all the words Anzu was spewing and the blond boy's reactions were funny. Plus he caught Seto halfway glaring at him, which only confirmed one of his suspicions.

Phys. Ed. was one class he excelled at, and it was the easiest class in which to pick pocket unsuspecting people because they couldn't very well avoid going near him like they usually did (most people knew of his reputation. Not that it helped). Like always, the other white-haired Yami, Ryo, somehow ended up standing near him.

Bakura looked at Ryo out of the corner of his eye. He didn't have any delusions about how he felt about his classmate (unlike certain other someone's that he knew **Atem and Seto**). He knew he was attracted to Ryo.

Ryo's a boy? Alright, Bakura could deal with that. Ryo's a Yami? Good, no dumb Hikari side getting in his way and stopping him from doing "evil". Bakura had no problem with either of those things, only one thing annoyed Bakura about this.

Ryo is a pansy.

It's undeniable; he's the most pansiest Yami that Bakura had ever met. And usually, Bakura despised pansies.

He pondered this all through Science, which he also had with Ryo.

Dismissing the issue as he headed to lunch, he picked through the loot he had gathered today. It really wasn't his fault; it was theirs for not being careful around a kleptomaniac. He had a few useless baubles like a piece of string and a thimble, a good few bucks, and a ring that looked expensive. He'd sell it later, probably.

History was alright, mostly because he almost got away with the professor's latest treasure from an Egyptian tomb. The professor caught him at the last minute, and he didn't like being caught but it was also kind of fun when he knew there were people who could catch him. So it would be even more fun next time he tried to get something from Professor Hawkins.

He didn't care for French (the language or the teacher) so he always spent the block seeing if he could steal from everyone in the room without getting caught once before the class ended. His record so far was 20 out of 25 people (including the teacher).

Bakura sighed in boredom as he swung his legs up onto the art table. This whole day had been a bust, especially because his French class had finally got smart and most had stopped bringing anything worth stealing.

"What's that?" Bakura opened his eyes to see Ryo looking curiously at his leg. He followed the other's gaze to see that his pant leg had slid down a bit and his mechanical anklet was now exposed.

"An anklet," he replied shortly. He raised an eyebrow when Ryo looked at him as if surprised that he had answered. Though, he supposed, Ryo might be seeing as he had never actually said a word directly to him before. Then, apparently getting over his surprise, Ryo tilted his head and looked a little closer. His eyes flickered briefly to Bakura's face as if asking permission, but Bakura just watched. He was curious as to what Ryo thought he could do.

"A tracker?" He finally said, frowning. It was Bakura's turn to be surprised. He never would have pinpointed Ryo as someone who knew their machines, yet here he was. Noticing Bakura's stare, Ryo turned red and backed a few steps away. It was kind of cute how he was fiddling with his bracelet like that, and maybe he wasn't as much of a pansy as formerly expected. "S-sorry, it's none of my business."

"It's a tracker," Bakura confirmed after a few moments, deciding to answer. After all, if Ryo could pick it out as a tracker with no knowledge beforehand he deserved that much. Bakura could see all the unasked questions swimming in Ryo's eyes, but the other boy bit his tongue and remained silent. Bakura decided he wouldn't answer anything else unless Ryo asked directly, so the rest of class was spent in silence.

* * *

 **A Day in the Life of Marik** or **Bright Side**

* * *

Marik grinned in his usual psychopathic way as he woke up and looked around his room in Gozobura's mansion. He loved this room. Sure, it was practically a prison, but it was nice! What's the point of being held prisoner if you don't get a few perks?

Getting ready as per the usual, he headed out to the limo with Bakura and Atem. He didn't really get the point of going to school, especially a dueling school. He was already one of the world's top duelists (as were Seto, Atem, and Bakura) and he could get a decent career out of just that, not to mention his jobs with Gozobura Kaiba. Not that he got paid for doing them, but he got to live in a mansion!

He didn't really pay attention in any of his classes most days, instead either plotting horrible things for fun or implementing said horrible things against an innocent bystander just for the fun of it. Or bugging the crap out of his friends.

Math was spent plotting what he would do in History, as he had no one in that class to entertain him. It involved glitter glue, a few books, loud noises from inside desks (via small chemical explosions), and several unwilling participants. Needless to say, the second block was not one that professor Hawkins enjoyed.

Next was French, which Marik was sure he would be able to speak fluently if he cared enough to try. Alas, he didn't and so the block was spent trying to get Seto and Joey to both glare full-force at someone just to see what would happen. The main problem was that the other would find it funny when he bugged the first and so they would stop glaring, but he finally managed to do it. However that kind of backfired when both glared at him, not full force but still enough to get his brain to shut down until the end of class.

Last class before lunch was Art, which he had with Malik. Malik was one of the few people that Marik actually liked right off the bat. That particular art class he drew a relatively gory picture and then showed it to Miho, who fainted (much to his sheer joy). He then decided to try and paint a mustache on Malik's face; they both ended up with paint smears all over them after a mini paint war. Based on what he had seen so far Marik hadn't expected retaliation, but it was even better that Malik had attacked him back!

Most of lunch was spent cleaning the paint off. The rest was spent sneaking off campus so he didn't have to go to the rest of classes.

Sure he got shocked a few times, but it was worth not being bored!

* * *

Factoid #17: I haven't told you their names yet, have I? The Hikari's names are all the original dub's (Joey Wheeler, Yugi Moto, Malik Ishtar) except for Ryo's, whose last name is now Tozoro. Kaiba's is obviously the same, but the others are Atem Sennin, Marik Namu, and Bakura Akefia.


	17. Kidnapped

AN: End of the day-in-the-life things and now onto the relationship building! Plus, I like causing Joey misery. That's how you know who my favorite is- whoever I torture most in my writing. Dear oh dear, why are we writers so sadistic?

* * *

 **Kidnapped**

Two shadowy figures snuck through the darkened apartment, peeking into each room to find the one they were looking for.

"Over here!" One whispered, beckoning the other into a room containing a boy with blond hair and another with tri-colored hair.

"Are you sure?" The other muttered, approaching silently.

"No… Don't eat my pancakes…" The blond boy muttered, stirring slightly. The first gave the second a significant look.

The second figure rolled his eyes, holding his hand out silently to the first who placed a white cloth in it. The second then walked forward silently, slowly and deliberately pressing the cloth over the boy's mouth and nose.

The blond's eyes snapped open almost immediately and his hands few up to try and pry the cloth away, but it was too late. He had already inhaled the chloroform and, only seconds later, he went limp.

"Come on, before the others wake up," the first ordered, moving to pick up the now unconscious boy. The other leant in to lend a hand and they silently hefted him out of the building.

* * *

"Joey?" Yugi muttered as she woke up to a few bumping noises. She looked over at the other bed in the room only to see it empty. She wasn't particularly worried, Joey sometimes got up for midnight snacks, but thought it best to be safe rather than sorry. Especially because Joey had to head over to see Ishizu before school this morning because she had missed their usual two-day meeting the day before due to work.

With that in mind, Yugi sat up groggily and walked to the kitchen to remind the forgetful blond of the important meeting.

Her mind still a bit muddled, she flicked on the kitchen light and looked around. There was no one inside. Taking a few moments to process this, her brow furrowed in worry.

"Joey?" She asked again, this time louder as she searched the area more thoroughly. Yugi was starting to get worried. Sure, Joey may have just gone to see Ishizu already (Yugi wouldn't put it past her), but she never left the apartment without telling someone else or leaving a note on the fridge. Which was bare.

She rushed back into the bedroom and looked on the bed, what she saw there making her blood run cold. A chain of gold was peeking halfway out from under the covers. Yugi picked it up, knowing what it was, but hoping she was wrong. Joey never would have left that behind.

"Joey?!" Yugi yelled as loud as she dared in the small apartment surrounded by sleeping people.

"Yugi, what's going on?" Malik yawned as she and Ryo emerged from their room and saw their distressed friend.

"Have either of you seen Joey?"

* * *

Joey groaned as she came to. Her head was throbbing and her mouth tasted like cotton balls, not to mention the uncomfortable position she seemed to be in. Her eyes slid open and she saw her lap and arms, her chin apparently resting on her chest. Everything was a bit fuzzy, but as Joey jerked her arms she realized they were bound tightly to the arms of a chair. Blinking in confusion, her mind not yet fully awake, she raised her head to the rest of the area.

It was old and dirty. That was the first thing that she noticed. Next was that it was one large, empty room with a network of catwalks sprawling across the ceiling. Third was that this room was familiar. Very familiar.

"Aw, not again," she groaned, head falling back in exasperation.

* * *

Atem looked out the window of the limo as it pulled up to the school, as it did every day, but frowned at the scene he saw. There were students streaming steadily towards to door, as per the usual, but there seemed to be a small group of two or three that was rushing up to anyone they could reach and stopping them for a moment. Every time, the people the group stopped would shake their heads and they would rush to the next closest person.

Atem squinted as he attempted to discern who the people were, widening when he realized.

Yugi, Ryo, and Malik.

Why wasn't Joey with them? Why did they look so worried?

Atem opened the door and started walking to them without a second thought, ignoring the questioning looks the other three gave him. He only gestured for them to follow him.

"Atem!" Yugi called as soon as she spotted him, running over with the other two. All four Yamis looked at the trio in surprise; each one of them looked like they were holding back tears. "Have you seen Joey? He wasn't in the apartment this morning, and we can't find him anywhere!"

Unbeknownst to anyone, Seto's heart clenched when he heard that. Quickly shaking off the feeling, he fixed his face from the concern that had flashed across it into condescension. But the other Yamis were too busy staring at the three disguised Hikaris, their hearts suddenly aching in sympathy that they (at least Bakura and Marik) had never felt before.

"So the Mutt finally ran away," Seto scoffed. Atem opened his mouth to say something to Seto, but the least likely person beat him to the punch.

"JOEY WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" Yugi yelled, glaring at the much taller teen. No one had suspected Yugi could be that loud, and everyone within twenty feet stepped back, even only a little. But that only reminded Yugi of when Joey had been trying to toughen her up and stole one of her games, insisting that she'd only give it back if Yugi hit her. Yugi had yelled then too, and Joey had complained about how loud she was. Tears started leaking out of her eyes.

Ryo stepped forward and hugged the smaller girl, astounding all the Yamis when she gave Seto a disappointed look. That was probably the meanest thing she had done since coming to the academy.

"Yugi's right," Malik stated, discreetly wiping her unshed tears and trying to stop her voice from shaking. "Joey might be forgetful, loud, annoyed easily, a little slow, and definitely overenthusiastic, but he's loyal. He'd never just leave."

"I'll help," three of the Yamis said without thinking, then looking at each other in surprise and mild annoyance. Then everyone looked at the one who hadn't spoken: Seto. He clenched his jaw as if he knew opening it would cause him to say something he'd regret, but finally caved under the six stares and (mostly) the one he knew was missing.

"Fine," he ground out, as if it was physically hurting him. The Hikaris' faces lit up and Yugi had to remind herself not to hug any of them.

"Thank you!" They all cried out.

"Now, where have you already looked?" Atem asked seriously, forcing himself to focus on the task ahead.

After going over all the places that they already checked (the apartment, Joey's work, each of their houses, some of the city that they lived in, and the school) and realized that no one actually knew where Joey lived, they decided to go back to the apartment to see if they missed anything.

Almost as soon as the door to the apartment came into view, Bakura realized something.

"Someone picked this lock," he stated, examining the doorknob. Yugi's eyes widened in realization.

"I heard some noise when I woke up, I thought it was Joey leaving but now that I think about it the door was unlocked when we started searching, Joey always locks the door when he leaves!" Yugi cried, realizing what must've happened.

"Are you suggesting that someone… kidnapped Joey?" Malik asked, eyes wide.

* * *

Interesting Factoid #18: When Joey says "again" she's referring to the fact that she's been kidnapped by these same people before (if you haven't figured out who has her yet, you'll know next chapter). It was before she became friends with Yugi, Ryo, and Malik which is why they've never dealt with this before.

Also, this the second time that gold chain's been mentioned. I wonder why it's so important~


	18. Failed Excuses

AN: **VERY IMPORTANT:** Not next monday, but the two after that I'll be **missing two Monday updates.** I won't have any sort of internet access in those two weeks so no one will be able to contact me. In order to make up for it I'll be updating twice next week and twice when I get back.

Despite that, I have some **exciting news** : **ThatWriterWithAPen, who goes by ThatArtistWithAPen on deviantArt, is starting a comic version of Undercover on deviantArt,** **(far as I can tell, the only really big difference in it will be Ryo being named Ryoko)** **and we'd both appreciate it if you checked it out!**

Thank you all so much! Now, onto the chapter!

* * *

"If you come one step closer, I'm gonna hurt you," Joey snarled at another one of her gang members, ignoring the two that were already curled up on the ground. They had neglected to tie her legs to the chair, and now were literally feeling the burn. Currently, there were only four members in the room: the three that just got their nuts cracked and Hirutani who was watching in amusement. Had the three tried to get her at the same time they could have tied her legs easily, but they were dumb enough to come at her one at a time and from the front no less. Though it was better than what they tried last time they kidnapped her like this, when she escaped in less than an hour due to neglect.

"You know, Josephine, it's nice to see that fire back in your eyes," Hirutani purred, smart enough to approach from the back. She jerked her head as far away from him as she could while still being tied to the chair and, while she was distracted, the others scrambled back up and tied her legs to the chair legs.

"AARG! Ya dirty rats!" Joey yelled, thrashing as she tried to loosen the ropes. Hirutani chuckled lightly, walking a few steps past the chair before suddenly spinning and backhanding Joey with all his strength. She spit up some blood before turning to glare at his retreating back.

* * *

Seto sat at his computer, fingers flying across the keyboard and eyes skimming the pages as they flew past too fast for any of the others to even comprehend.

"Here," he stated, finally stopping. "The warehouses at the end of the docks."

"Why would he be there?" Marik asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Because that's the hideout for his former gang, who are the most likely candidates as his kidnappers that we know of. I'm sure there are plenty more," Seto scoffed, though he wasted no time in packing up and leading the others out to the car.

All of the Yamis piled in one car with the Hikaris following in Yugi's.

"You three wait here," Atem ordered the three disguised Hikaris when they arrived. They could hear a faint murmur from the warehouses, and Atem was sure it was shouting that was just too far away to hear properly. The girls nodded hesitantly, staying close to the cars but looking as if they wanted to follow the boys as they ran off.

"We're definitely in the right place," Bakura observed a few minutes later, smirk adorning his face.

"How can you tell?" Atem asked curiously. Bakura held up his hand for silence and cocked his head as if listening. After a few moments, the four almost recoiled at the colorful swearing that was soaring over the rooftops. "Yes, that would be Joey."

"The Mutt barks loud," Seto observed, rolling his eyes.

"He's this way," Marik said, running off to the left with the others following close behind. As they got closer, the profanity continued and probably made several sailors on the nearby docks turn bright red. They dashed into one warehouse, instantly realizing that this wasn't the one Joey was being held in due to the lack of angry and restrained blondes.

"HIRUTANI WHEN I GET OUTTA HERE, YA NEVA GONNA HAVE KIDS YA- OUCH! YA STUPID SADIST!" The Yamis zeroed in on the warehouse next to the one that they had first entered and rushed over there instead.

Inside the warehouse, they saw a thrashing blond tied to a chair surrounded by several scruffy men, some of which seemed to have been taken down despite the fact that Joey could hardly move. In fact, the blond's head smashed into the head of an attacker and the man went down as they ran in.

"Hah! Take dat!" Joey grinned, not seeming to mind the blood dripping down her face. Without taking in anything more than the bloody blond and the scruffy men, the Yamis charged in. Within moments, all the gang members were taken down.

Seto dusted his clothes off; this warehouse was filthy. Once he was done he looked up… and froze in shock. The person tied to the chair… there were a lot of things that could make someone stare.

Anger.

Lots of blood.

Semi-torn clothes.

But there was one thing that nearly gave Seto Kaiba, and the other three Yamis that were now calm enough to observe more thoroughly, a heart attack.

The blond was a girl.

"Joey?" Atem asked, though the way his eyes were slightly unfocused told her that there really wasn't a light in the attic.

"Stop starin' an' untie me ya blockheads!" She seethed, thrashing less now but still squirming. Atem snapped out of his shock and did as told, untying her quickly. She really didn't look very good currently, considering the formidable rope burns on her wrists and ankles and the many bruises, cuts, and bumps from being hit over the time they were looking for her.

The only question was… Who exactly had they just saved?

"Joey's my brotha. Dese idiots kidnapped me ta try an' get him ta join da gang again," Joey scoffed, rubbing her wrist, wincing because of the cuts, glaring at said cuts, and then repeating the process.

Bakura and Marik nodded thoughtfully. It would make sense; Joey was a very loyal person so the logical person to go after to get him to join a gang would be his sister and, by the looks of it, his twin.

Atem was a little less willing to accept the answer so readily. He supposed it was logical for the gang to target her, but how would she know about them? Why did she relax when they appeared? Did Joey tell her about them? Atem, personally, doubted it unless it was to rant about how much of a know-it-all rich-boy Seto was.

Seto didn't believe a word of the nonsense spewing out of the blond's mouth. He could have listed a million reasons why Joey was lying, the first of which being that she couldn't possibly be Joey's twin because he –sorry, she– didn't have a twin in the first place. Joey did have a sister, but she looked absolutely nothing like the girl standing in front of them. Just as he was about to open his mouth and crush Joey's hopes and dreams (a favorite pastime of his) the door burst open.

"Joey!" Yelled three voices as the owners (Yugi, Ryo, and Malik) rushed past the Yamis and practically tackled the blond girl in a hug. The three more expressive Yamis gaped. How could this girl possibly be Joey? Sure they could say she bound her chest and just put on a uniform, but… Well, Atem didn't mean to be so forward, but it simply wasn't possible with her chest size. At least not that day when Joey had walked into Phys. Ed. with only her form-fitting white t-shirt covering her top.

"Nyeh! I'm fine, I'm fine!" Joey complained, but the small, almost unnoticeable, smile twisting her face told everyone she really liked it. And, for some reason (that all knew but most were in denial about), all four Yamis glared at her for that.

"You're a girl?!" Marik demanded. Immediately, the other girls' eyes widened and they really looked at Joey. They hadn't even remembered that she was supposed to be a boy in their heat-of-the-moment panic.

"Eh… No?" Joey replied twitching slightly. "Look, I got a glandular disorder-"

"No you don't," Seto shot down her answer with ease.

"I got really huge, secret, embarrassing moobs?" She tried, glaring at Seto. None of the Yamis bought what she was selling, instead turning to the other three.

"What about you three? You're girls too, correct?" Atem asked the three who were now hiding slightly behind Joey again.

"No!" Joey replied before they could answer. "I, uh, didn' have any friends in da girl's duelin' school so I decided ta come here wit dese tree?" It sounded more like a question than an answer and Joey could tell, just by their faces, that they really didn't believe a word she said. So she tried a different approach. "Reverse harem?"

"Joey!" Yugi and Malik screeched, blushing as the three took a step back. Ryo just hid her face in her hands so no one could see her abnormally pale skin turn fire-truck red in embarrassment.

"Yes, we're girls too!" Yugi told them, hoping to clear up any misunderstandings and to stop the Yamis from pouncing on Joey. Yes, they looked that angry. Other than Seto who looked indifferent with a little bit of malice hiding in his eyes.

"Guys, dat almost worked!" Joey whined, then suddenly she felt very unsteady and almost toppled over right in the middle of the doorway. Blinking rapidly after she regained her balance is if it would help, she put a hand to her head and used the other to wave the others away. "Oh yeah, I gotta find Hirutani…"

"No, you need to go to the hospital!" Yugi disagreed fully, frowning up at her blond friend.

"I don' need ta go to a hospital." Joey winced, walking off a bit unsteadily and checking all of the unconscious men. "Ah, here he is." Joey muttered when she finally found him. "Ya boys might wanta turn away fa dis." And then, with all her strength, she kicked him. Let it just be said that Joey kept her promise to the best of her abilities.

As they walked out, Yugi pulled on Joey's sleeve and, taking her cue, Joey lagged behind with her. They saw the others watching, trying to be inconspicuous, so Joey leaned down to Yugi's level. Whatever Yugi whispered to her made her jump from shock, and her hand immediately flew to her neck. The others had no clue what was happening, but Yugi called for Joey to calm down and then held out a clenched fist.

Joey held out her hand and Yugi dropped the object into it, but before anyone could see that is was Joey clenched her fist and shoved it deep into one of her pockets. They returned to the group like nothing had happened, and refused to acknowledge that something had.

Five minutes later they were on the way to the hospital with Joey complaining loudly from the back seat.

* * *

Factoid# 19: Originally everyone was going to find out they were girls in a way that they didn't see Joey and Seto was going to make a snide remark about her not being pretty anyway, then when they finally do see her the text would be something like "and for the first time in a very long time, Seto Kaiba found himself eating his own words… but he would never admit that." And then he would insult her.


	19. Questions and Unrelated Answers

AN: Kay, I'll be updating twice this week! Once now, and again either tomorrow or the next day because after that I'll drop off the face of the earth for ten days. Enjoy!

 **Questions and Unrelated Answers**

* * *

When Joey walked into the hospital, the lady at the front desk had freaked out. That was understandable, seeing as Joey was swaying dangerously and rather bloody, but she had also called Joey by name and asked what happened. She had been in the process of alerting the immediate care facilities that Joey was here (she apparently had her own room or something) but Joey managed to talk her down, insisting to Jane (for Joey knew her name as well) that it wasn't serious and she was only here because her friends had made her come. Jane hadn't looked too pleased, but said that Joey could wait on the chairs and she would be checked in a minute.

Understandably, everyone else wanted to know what that was about. Joey explained that this was the hospital she went to when she was still in the gang but she only came in when she had a broken bone or something equally (or more) serious. That would explain why Jane had immediately assumed she was in mortal peril.

As promised, they took Joey away for examining only a minute after. Which was kind of strange, because usually hospitals made you wait about an hour when they said that. The boys had left when it was clear that Joey wasn't really in any danger (something about a meeting), but Yugi, Ryo, and Malik were staying until they were allowed in the room to see Joey.

As Yugi sat in the waiting room of the hospital, wheels turned in her head. Something was off, but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly. It wasn't that everyone knew Joey, her story had been perfectly clear as to why that was, and it wasn't because Joey just didn't like hospitals. Maybe it was the question that no one had really asked.

Why did Joey get so many severe injuries in the first place? After all, she had quit the gang years ago.

"Are you Yugi Moto, Malik Ishtar, and Ryo Tozoro?" A voice asked, snapping Yugi out of her thoughts. She nodded, shoving her previous wonderings out of her mind as they were led into Joey's room.

* * *

It had been a whole week since the boys had figured out that the new boys in their school were, in fact, girls. They hadn't yet confirmed that they were Hikaris as well, but each of them had their suspicions. About everyone other than Joey, of course. How could she possibly be a Hikari with the attitude she has? Seto's personal theory was that Joey made friends with the three Hikaris and then, since she had no friends at the school she was going to, duped them into changing schools with her. Though why on earth she would choose the boy's school was beyond him.

Funnily enough, Seto's was pretty close to being right if you take out Joey being a Yami and changed her motive from selfish to caring. Though she had duped them into going.

Either way, the two groups had gotten closer over the week, much to Joey's dismay, and today after school they were all going to Burger World. There, Atem planned to actually ask them why they came to the academy instead of the all-girls school for Yamis. This, he hoped, would get them to admit they were Hikaris and hopefully get them to tell the whole story. The only reason none of them had been asked yet was because every time the subject even looked like it was going to surface, someone got distracted and dragged everyone to a different topic (leaving behind a seething Kiaba, who was not so easy to trick).

The girls walked into Burger World and sat at their regular table, the boys following them closely. Seto scowled as he took the place in.

Was this what that Mutt was spending all of the betting money on? Burgers and milk shakes? One thousand dollars might look like a penny in the hand of Gozobura Kaiba, but it might make the difference in whether Seto could save Mokuba or not. And the Mutt's using it all to buy cheap food? Disgusting.

"I'll buy," Atem volunteered, ignoring the incredulous looks from his friends, the slight protests from the suspected Hikaris and Joey's exclamation of joy. They made small talk until the food arrived, and that was when Atem decided he had better start the real interrogation before Seto got fed up and started demanding answers.

"So, I've been wondering for a while, if you're all girls then why did you come to a boy's school?" Atem asked. He noticed that all four girls froze mid-bite, glancing between each other. At first the suspected Hikaris looked to Joey, but she gave them a "well what do you want _me_ to say?" look and everyone turned to Yugi.

Seto thought this was interesting. From what he had observed, Joey was the bruiser of the group but she had gotten a temporary promotion to leader when they came to the academy because she was the only real Yami. It was obvious, though, that Yugi was the real leader. She was the smallest and the second least outspoken (beaten out by Ryo) but for some reason whatever she said almost always went. Malik was obviously the brains of the group, though all but the Mutt seemed to have at least a fair amount of those. Ryo didn't seem to have a specific purpose, but she fit in rather well.

Unbeknownst to him, Malik was doing a similar deconstruction of his own group. To her, it was obvious that Atem was the leader and public face (because none of the others could even pretend to have social skills). However, it was also obvious that none of the others would ever admit to that fact. Seto was obviously the brains and the tech guy, so he would be the one Atem would ask for advice and assistance from most (not to mention them being cousins). Marik and Bakura were a bit harder to place, but she finally decided that they were the main bruisers and intel-gatherers (though all four boys could fight). But only the intelligence that couldn't be found on a computer, as that would be Seto's department.

"Oh, uh… um…" Yugi stuttered, trying to come up with something viable. Malik, personally, had already decided on the truth. Although a bit skewed.

"None of us had planned to come to dueling school originally. We were just going to go to a girl's school," Malik stated. She didn't particularly like lying, so she didn't specify Yami girl's school. "But then Joey asked us if we'd want to go to a dueling school instead. We were talking about it when Yugi's Grandfather ran in yelling about how something had arrived and gave Joey four letters." The four Yamis glanced at Joey, realizing that she was stubbornly staring at the table and trying to hide her faint blush of embarrassment. Though she was also grinning slightly. "Yugi saw the seal, it was to the Academy. Joey had already enrolled us all there, so we decided we'd better come."

"…Joey, why _did_ you choose a boy's school?" Ryo asked, causing everyone but Yugi to look at said blond in interest. Yugi knew why Joey had picked a boy's dueling school already, though it was never actually said. It surprised the boys that the Hikaris so blindly followed Joey into what could have been a deadly situation for them.

"Well, ah, um, I-" Joey stuttered, not wanting to tell these Yamis her motives. Especially Seto Kaiba, whom she was loathe to tell anything that might let him get some leverage over her in any way (not that he didn't already have some, but she wouldn't give him more) and the fact that she would do pretty much anything for Yugi and her other friends was some pretty big leverage. In her mild panic, a clock happened to catch her eye, reminding her of something. "Yuug, what time is it?"

"Um, almost five. Why?"

"NYAA!" Joey yelled, falling out of the booth in her hurry to exit. "I'm gonna be late! I'm already late!" She fretted, jumping up and grabbing her stuff. "Sorry Yuug, I gotta go ta work!" She said before rushing away. She tripped over someone on the way, knocking them both down, but she jumped up and kept running, flinging a rushed "Sorry!" behind her.

Much to the boy's surprise, as it looked like Joey just ditched them, the three girls smiled fondly and shook their heads at Joey's antics.

"You buy that?" Marik scoffed, not believing Joey's work story.

"Oh, it's true. She does that every Thursday at five," Yugi smiled.

"I can't believe I forgot! I should have reminded her half an hour ago," Malik groaned. She didn't want her forgetfulness (paired with Joey's) to cause Joey to arrive late so many times that she lost her job!

"Don't worry, she's probably already there the way she's running," Ryo replied, smiling at her Egyptian friend.

"What does she do at work?" Atem asked, looking actually interested. The three girls glanced between each other, trying to decide what to say. Finally Yugi spoke up, blushing a little.

"Um, sorry, Atem, but I don't think she'd want us to tell you that…" Not that it was bad or anything, but they were pretty sure Joey would have preferred to remain a complete mystery to these for if she could have.

"Back to the actual conversation," Seto said, annoyed that Joey had successfully derailed the train of conversation as she left. "Yugi, why did Wheeler choose the Academy?" By his calculations, it was statistically more probable for Yugi to know than anyone else. Besides, he had seen that last time she was the only one not looking to Joey for answers, as if she already knew.

"Um, I-I think…There were two reasons, really… the first is that a bunch of Yamis already know us and if we just showed up at a Yami girl's school we would be called out right away."

"And the second?" Atem prompted.

"She _may_ have done it for me…" Seeing their questioning looks, she explained. "I like dueling, a lot, but I wasn't going to be able to go to a dueling school. So Joey found the biggest and best dueling school she could and made sure I got in, along with my friends."

Based on Ryo's and Malik's faces, this was the first time they had heard this theory as well.

"I totally thought she did it to show up the boys…" Malik said, looking like she wanted to smack herself.

"It makes sense, Joey would do almost anything for Yugi. She wouldn't drag us into something because of a petty grudge; if that was the reason she'd just go by herself." Ryo said softly, head hanging slightly. She had suspected Joey for selfish reasons as well, and now she felt terrible.

Bakura, finally getting fed up with all the useless talking, decided to simply ask the one question they all wanted answered.

"You're Hikaris, aren't you." Though it sounded more like a statement than a question.

The, now found out, Hikaris avoided eye contact and stuttered out weak denials.

"That's a yes," Atem smirked.

"Please don't turn us in!" Yugi blurted before she thought, scared eyes looking straight at Atem. Unwittingly, his smirk turned into a small but reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Yugi, your secret is safe," he stated. Seto scoffed, avoiding looking at the Hikaris. He didn't like Hikaris almost as much as Joey didn't like Yamis. Bakura shrugged and everyone took that as an agreement.

"Yeah, we won't tell!" Marik grinned in his usual vaguely-psychotic way. That was a little less assuring.

* * *

Factoid #20: Joey actually has three jobs, only two of which the others know about. The one she just ran off to was a cooking job in a reasonably high-end restaurant, the other the Hikari's know about is doing odd jobs like moving furniture (coordinated by the boss, which is what makes it an actual job rather than mowing lawns or something). The third isn't technically a job but she calls it that because she gets money for it (in fact, more than her other jobs), and it will become a plotpoint later.


	20. UnExpected Visitors

AN: Kay, last update before flying off to France! I just found out I might have _some_ wifi access if I'm lucky, so I _might_ be able to get messages and reply. But I won't be able to post a chapter, and don't count on me replying to any questions.

 **Un/Expected visitors**

* * *

Joey yawned, stretching out on Yugi's couch with a satisfied feeling. It was the second day of the first week-long break of the year and she wouldn't have to deal with Kaiba until next Monday. Of course, when she opened her eyes and remembered she was in Yugi's house she felt the strangest mix of dread and relief. Shaking it off, she did not want to think about why she had come here yesterday or what she had told Yugi, she sat up.

Then, without so much as checking that Yugi was awake, she tromped upstairs and took a shower. This was commonplace when she came over to Yugi's house. She had stayed over enough times that Solomon and Yugi pretty much just accepted her as part of the family. When Tristan had lived near her she had always gone to his house, but it was never like this. He thought of her like another sister, but his parents absolutely hated her. They blamed her for his involvement in the gang and for every injury he had gotten since he was in middle school, as well as being a horrible influence and several other things that were completely untrue and disturbing to just think about.

Stepping out of the shower, she changed into her spare set of clothes (she always kept one at Yugi's house) and headed downstairs to see what Yugi had made for breakfast.

As she walked down the stairs, she glanced down at her arms and frowned. Green. The glamour had worn off overnight and now she looked like a girl Hikari again. It was pity, really, as she rather enjoyed being able to be herself and not be hated for it. Plus she was paid more at her jobs when she was a Yami. She started rolling down her sleeves, covering them.

Because of her distracted condition, she didn't realize there were some extra voices in the kitchen until she walked in and they stopped talking. At the sudden silence, she looked up. She stared. They stared. She yelled and jumped behind the wall, hurrying to cover up the last of her tattoos hopefully before anyone recognized them.

Oh no. Not good. What were they doing here? What was _he_ doing here? He probably knew where Yugi lived because of the all-knowing database she was sure he had on his computer. There was no way he realized her tattoos were his as well, right? He didn't know his as well as she did, right? Well, he only saw the bottom of the left one, if that, so there was no way…

Maybe she was hallucinating. Yeah, that sounded like something that would happen to her. He wasn't really here, none of them were. It was just Yugi and her and Solomon, no one else.

She peeked into the kitchen again and almost immediately pulled her head back before slamming it into the wall. They were here. Why were they here?

"Joey?" She heard Atem's confused voice ask.

"Heh heh, yeah, dat's me," she said nervously, stepping out into the kitchen. "Yuug, when'd they get here?" Yugi, who had been serving them all breakfast, shrugged.

"Sorry Joey, they showed up while you were in the shower."

" _You're_ a Hikari?" Marik asked, looking incredulous. Joey gave them all a glare to melt lead before sitting as far away from them as possible.

"Seto, even you have to admit you didn't see that coming," Bakura laughed.

"I'm too tired for dis. What'd ya make fa breakfast?" Joey cut in. She eyed the eggs and bacon on everyone else's plates (minus Seto who wasn't eating) with suspicion. Was that her breakfast divided between the three Yamis?

"Don't worry Joey, I didn't give them yours," Yugi giggled, grabbing a huge plate of bacon and eggs from the counter and plopping it in front of her friend. She knew about Joey's notorious appetite.

"You're da best Yuug!" She cheered, eyes lighting up at the sight of the food. She had all but forgotten that the Yami's were even there as she dug into her serving.

"Ugh, Joey, get some table manners." Joey stopped shoveling food into her mouth and turned to give Malik, who had arrived when she was eating, a grin. "I still don't know how you can be that skinny when you eat like that all the time."

"High metabolism," Joey answered, looking smug. It was the same answer she always gave anyone who asked, but what people didn't understand is that this would probably be the biggest meal she had all week, unless she stayed at Yugi's again. She and her father were a bit short on cash a lot, especially with that savings account Joey had going… but that was more important than three square meals a day.

After finishing the food off (it only took about a minute) Joey stood up and grinned at Yugi.

"Well Yuug, I'd betta get home."

"Why'd you stay over anyway?" Malik asked, sitting down in Joey's vacated spot.

"Cuz' dad was out an' I decided I didn't wanna be alone in da apartment," Joey replied. She didn't like that story, it made her sound like a wimp, but it was better than the truth.

Yugi looked at Joey in worry. She had no hard evidence, but she was pretty sure she knew exactly why Joey liked staying in her house rather than going home. The amount of times a Yami had snuck up on her during a morning walk, she fell down some stairs and was closer to Yugi's house rather than her own, whenever she "forgot to pay the water bill" or her father was out of town and she just wanted to stay over, it was statistically improbable. It happened way too often to be a collection of random events, even though Yugi wasn't sure how long this had been going on. Joey only started to come to her about a year ago, after all.

"Aw, but we just got here!" Marik grinned, but not in a necessarily nice way. That actually gave Joey pause. Did she really trust the boys with her friends? No. No she did not.

"On second thought, I'll just hang out here for a while."

At that, Seto scowled deeper but Marik and Bakura shared evil grins. The best part of their day would undoubtedly be seeing the two belligerent teens getting on each other's nerves.

Then, as if just realizing she had completely forgotten about the most obvious question, she turned on them with a glare.

"What a' you doin' here anyway?" She asked suspiciously. The boys shrugged.

"Ask her," Bakura said, pointing at Yugi. Yugi was looking uncomfortable. In fact, all of her friends were.

"Um, well, we forgot to tell you… uh, after you went to work on Thursday we invited them over because they were curious about how we looked without the glamour…"

"EH?!" Joey yelled, dropping to her knees with her head sagging. "Ya invited 'em? C'mon Yuug, you know how much I hate Yamis!" She whined more to the ground than anything else.

"Hate's a strong word," Atem said, raising an eyebrow. She seemed pretty comfortable with Yamis for someone that hated them.

"Your soul mate's a Yami, you know," Malik said with a smirk that said all-too-clearly that she knew something she wasn't supposed to.

"Yeah? Well so was my gang an' my mom. Guess I'm just lucky like dat," she scoffed, somehow back on her feet. "Trouble, dat's what dey are. I'm stayin' til dey're gone," she declared as if someone was telling her to leave.

"Yeah, that's great Joey," Malik said dismissively. "So what are we going to do today?"

"I have more important things to do than waste my time with you," Seto cut in immediately, standing. "Are you three satisfied because I am leaving whether you are or not."

"Uh uh uh," Marik and Bakura chimed, grabbing Seto's arms as Atem walked around to look at his face.

"We're never going to find anything if it's all you ever do, Seto. You need a break from that, so today we are all going to do something fun and if I see your computer out I'll take it until tomorrow." Just as Seto opened his mouth to respond (and not in a very nice way going by his glare) there was a slightly choked sound from behind them. They turned to look, not sure what exactly was happening, but as soon as they did Joey (apparently giving up on trying not to laugh) fell to the ground cackling. The four Yamis looked on, questioning her mental health, but the other Hikaris sighed and covered their eyes in something between exasperation and perhaps shame.

"Is something funny, Mutt?" Seto sneered condescendingly, immediately snapping her out of her laugh-fest as she practically appeared in front of him with a glare.

"Yeah, rich-boy, I _do_ think somethin's funny! Your face!" The whole room went silent as everyone stared at Joey.

Kaiba didn't even have the grace to look insulted.

"…You really are pathetic." He finally sighed before returning to his seat and ignoring her mounting anger.

"Show you pathetic," she muttered to herself as she stomped away and slumped into her own chair. She couldn't physically hurt him because that would make Yugi… not sad, per se, but disappointed. And if there was one thing she didn't like it was disappointment, especially from Yugi.

After much arguing about what they were going to do (between Joey and the Yamis as the other Hikaris were content with anything) they finally decided on the new amusement park, much to Seto's dismay.

* * *

Factoid #21: (I forgot to put this on Chapter 18, so here's a needed explanation) The reason Kaiba knows that Joey doesn't have a twin or a sister that looks like her is because, though her file has been removed from the database, he can still see information based on her family's files. However it only ever uses her nickname. Like on Serenity's it would say: "younger sister to Joey Wheeler". She is referred to as Josephine only once (on her original file) because she almost never uses the name and therefore the information-gatherers always heard people call her "Joey".


	21. The Park

AN: I'M ALIVE! Here's a long chapter for all of you out there, and don't forget to check out the comic version on Deviantart! It's got a few pages up already!

 **The Park**

* * *

Tristan grinned to himself as he put the finishing touches on his outfit. He was going on a date today with a pretty blond named Lyra. She was a normal, like him. He didn't go out with Hikaris (he had learned that lesson after Janessa. Her Yami sure hit hard) or Yamis (Clair. Girl was a living nightmare, he couldn't get rid of her!), at least not anymore. He stuck to normals, thank you very much.

Honestly, he was just wearing what he usually wore out anywhere, but he had re-gelled his hair and fixed his clothes so that they were a little straighter and had no stains.

After he had finished with that, he got in his car to pick her up after saying goodbye to his Aunt and Uncle. They were going to an amusement park and Tristan was determined to show Lyra what an awesome and brave person he was by not screaming during the roller coasters and getting her cool prizes from the booths.

It was going to be perfect!

He arrived at her house right on schedule and she came out wearing denim short-shorts and a white shirt under a long-sleeved pink jacket.

Tristan had never really understood why so many girls wore mini-skirts or short-shorts and a long-sleeve jacket, but he supposed it was a girl thing or something and he didn't really want to get too involved. He had asked Joey once, but she didn't get it either. She also wacked him and asked if he had ever seen her wearing something like that, which he hadn't. It was strange since her old school required it as a uniform, but he was pretty sure she had just ditched the skirt for pants.

But that was beside the point.

Regardless of how strange Tristan thought a woman's mind was, he was determined to have a good time at the amusement park.

As Lyra slid into the passenger seat of the car, she gave Tristan a shy half smile which he returned as a full-blown grin. Yes, the amusement park would be fun.

"So... We're going to the new amusement park they just built?" Lyra asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yep! Today's the opening day, so we'll be some of the first people to see it!" Tristan grinned. "It's right over there, behind those trees." He pointed at a line of fairly tall trees, over the top of which could be seen several bits of different roller coasters.

"Looks fun!" Lyra replied, finally getting into the excitement and smiling a full smile. Tristan did a little happy dance inside of his head as he pulled the car into the almost-full parking lot.

For the next hour or two, they ran around doing all of the roller coasters they could find and Tristan was surprised to find that Lyra was actually quite the little Daredevil when it came to the ones even he didn't really want to be on. But he went on them and tried to act manly, which Lyra poked and giggled at afterwards. Honestly, she was starting to remind him of Joey and it kind of scared him. He had his hands full with only one of them; he didn't need a girlier version running around as well.

"WADDA YA MEAN I LOST?! I HIT DA TARGET RIGHT IN DA MIDDLE YA THEIVIN' JERK!"

Speak of the devil, and _she_ shall appear. Tristan and Lyra had been heading over to play some of the carnival games when the voice soared over the crowd. And that was a voice that Tristan knew all too well. He almost fell over in exasperation. Would he have to go save Joey now? Or, rather, would he have to go save whoever Joey was yelling at? He didn't want her arrested for assault, no matter how much she may have earned it with her quick temper and quicker fists.

"Is something wrong?" Lyra asked, seeing Tristan's suddenly very put-upon expression.

"Huh? Oh, no, but I have to go save whoever Joey's yelling at," he replied forlornly.

"That's Joey?" Lyra asked interestedly. Like many of Tristan's previous girlfriends, she had heard much about the other blond. And, also like many previous girlfriends, she assumed that Joey was a boy and most definitely a Yami.

Like many of Tristan's previous girlfriends, she was in for a surprise.

Tristan blinked in surprise as he finally got close enough to the commotion to see what was happening. It seemed that Joey had tried a carnival game (which she sucked at) and lost, then blowing up on the stall owner. _The_ Seto Kaiba had stepped forward and tried as Joey stewed. He got the highest score possible in one try, which didn't make Joey feel any better, but it only got worse when he picked a stuffed dog as his prize and offered it to Joey with an undeniably mocking smirk.

And that was when Tristan realized that Joey currently looked like a girl. And was talking to Seto Kaiba, who obviously wasn't surprised that she was a girl and knew that this was the same Joey from school.

Was she _trying_ to get herself taken away?!

Just as Joey lunged forward, something Kaiba was obviously expecting and would have dodged easily, Tristan jumped forward, grabbed her, and dragged her away in the space of about two seconds.

Seto blinked in surprise, but that was his only outward indication of anything. He had been looking forward to embarrassing the easily-irritated blond once again, and even he hadn't expected her friend (Tristan, was it?) to jump out of nowhere and stop her. And now he was stuck with this stupid stuffed dog.

"Um, excuse me, Seto, could I… I mean, if you don't want that…" Yugi stuttered timidly. Seto scoffed, tossing the golden retriever to her without so much as looking.

"I have no need for toys," he said coldly. Yugi smiled, hugging the stuffed animal. She wasn't going to keep it though; she was going to give it to Joey later with the suggestion that Joey give it to Serenity. She didn't know much about Serenity other than Joey wasn't allowed to see her because of the divorce and Joey absolutely adored her. That was good enough for Yugi.

After bodily dragging Joey about thirty feet from her impending doom, Tristan finally let her go. She spun and glared at him immediately.

"What was dat for, Tristan?!" She demanded.

"You can't punch Seto Kaiba! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Why are you with him anyway? Is he blackmailing you?!"

"He ain't blackmailin' me! Yuug invited 'im and 'is friends ta come!" Joey snapped, annoyed that Tristan thought she would be so weak as to let Seto Kaiba (or anyone else for that matter) blackmail her.

"Um, Tristan?" Asked a timid voice, interrupting what would probably have grown into a full-blown shouting match, complete with physical fighting, and then lunch invitation.

"Oh, Lyra!" Tristan said, as if he had forgotten she was there.

"Eh? Tris, who's dis?" Joey asked, immediately forgetting her annoyance as she looked at the much shorter blond.

"This is Lyra, we're on a date," Tristan replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "Lyra, this is Joey Wheeler."

"Nice ta meecha," Joey greeted, sticking her hand out. Lyra took it hesitantly. She was kind of uncomfortable now, feeling small and… less developed than her boyfriend's best friend. And even though she was acting nice, Lyra felt as if Joey was really studying her, waiting for her to do something wrong.

In truth, she kind of was. She couldn't have her best friend marrying just any girl that would have him. She had to have standers, because Tristan kind of didn't and she didn't want him to marry some chick that absolutely hated her or that she hated. What would she do if she wanted to visit?

Because Joey was sure that she and Tristan would be best friends even after he got married.

So far, this girl seemed to be doing fine. She wasn't being rude, she wasn't yelling at Tristan, she wasn't pressuring him into buying her lots of stuff. Joey thought she could use a bit more backbone, but that was more for her sake than Tristan's. Then they could gang up on him and get him to do ridiculous things together…

Alright, she may just want a potential good friend to be married to her best friend for the sake of… well… fun.

She didn't really have a better reason.

Tristan's eyes moved between Lyra and Joey as if watching a Ping-Pong match, even though neither girl was doing anything. If they got along immediately he knew he could depend on Joey to support him. If they started arguing (in a Kaiba-Joey way, not a Joey-Tristan way) he was going to need a new girlfriend.

This silence was worrying.

If Joey lost him one more girlfriend, Tristan was gonna-

Suddenly he saw Lyra's mouth turn into a timid smile and looked at Joey in anticipation. But not too much; he was trying to appear nonchalant.

After a blink of surprise, Joey returned it with that huge, crooked, doofy grin and Tristan did an internal happy dance.

"So, he cry yet?" Were the first words out of Joey's mouth after her and Lyra's newly established friendship. After a surprised pause from Lyra (Joey looked like pure evil when she said that), she smiled.

"No, he's been really brave," she assured.

"Really?" Joey asked, looking genuinely surprised. She really shouldn't have been, Tristan was actually a pretty tough guy. Almost immediately she went back to that grin, ignoring Tristan's mounting annoyance at her. "No annoying clean-the-world janitor-reject speeches?"

"JOEY!" Tristan yelled before Lyra could say no. He lunged at said girl, but she had bolted as soon as he started talking. This started a chase scene that most action-packed adventure (slash comedy) films would have been jealous of, what with the two athletes jumping over and on attractions, swerving around people at breakneck speeds, not to mention that little bit where Joey got her hands on some pinecones, or when Tristan had grabbed a large stick.

The chase ended when Joey circled back around and dived behind Lyra, which caused Tristan to stop as well.

"Well, I'll just leave ya two love-birds to ya selves," Joey said, pushing Lyra towards her best friend in a clever ploy to distract him and then run for it. It worked rather well, if she did say so herself.

Tristan had almost instantly caught onto what Joey was doing, but decided that he should get back to not neglecting the person he was actually on a date with.

* * *

After Tristan had dragged Joey off, the remaining people in the group wandered off to a different part of the park.

Marik and Bakura had run off to the largest, scariest roller coasters and though Atem would have rather been on those type of rides he stayed with the Hikaris. They had been the ones to invite him and pay for the tickets, after all. It would be rude to leave them.

Seto also stayed with the Hikaris, but only because he had no intention of riding any rides. He would never admit it, but being in this place reminded him painfully of Mokuba. Because of that, and the fact that he wasn't allowed to search for Mokuba today, he was in a horrible mood. More horrible than usual.

And he was going to take it out on someone.

Too bad for Joey that she happened to be the first to come across him in this mood.

She ran up to the other three Hikaris with that stupid grin of hers, apologizing about being dragged away and blaming the whole thing on Tristan. They all looked like they were having a good time; Joey even seemed to have warmed up to Atem a bit. However, that didn't cheer Seto up at all. In fact, it may have made him angrier.

But he was pleased to realize that this was possibly the first time he had truly felt hatred toward the blond. That was good. Normality was returning at last.

At least it was, until the stupid mutt decided to talk again.

"What about you, rich-boy? Too scared ta go on da big-kid rides?" She smirked, realizing that her Hikari friends weren't the only ones avoiding anything "fun". Which in Joey's vocabulary was probably closer to "death-defying".

He turned his cold, malice-filled eyes on her without hesitation. Granted, she wasn't necessarily the problem in this equation, but he could honestly say he didn't care at the moment.

"Any amusement park that allows dogs on rides can't be very good," he hissed with open hostility. Everyone, even Atem, took a step back in surprise. Seto did enjoy teasing Joey, but usually he was just baiting her, getting her angry and smirking about it. He had never really been openly hostile. Then, Atem realized exactly what was bugging his cousin.

"Seto..." He said warningly. He was going to continue, but that was when Joey snapped out of her shock and took two steps forward to make up the distance she had retreated. She wouldn't show weakness in front of Kaiba.

"I ain't a dog, money-bags! Ya lucky dat Tristan stopped me from re-arrangin' ya face last time, but you say one more thing an' ya gonna get a makeova!" She yelled, Brooklyn accent becoming more pronounced in her rage.

"And then what? Will you play dress-up? Have a tea party?" Seto sneered, no remorse or regrets about pushing all the wrong buttons.

"Dat's it!" Joey growled, much like a dog, before lunging at the smirking brunette. If Joey had been thinking straight, which admittedly doesn't happen often, she probably would have noticed the difference between this smirk and Kaiba's usual smirk. Kaiba, if asked, would probably fully admit to being a bit of a sadist. His other smirks, while slightly sadistic in nature, we're never really malicious. This smirk seemed to shadow his whole face, the one feature turning him from Gadfly into monster.

"Joey!"

"Kaiba!"

"Seto!"

Their friends yelled, lunging forward and stopping Joey just in time.

"Lemme go! He's askin' for it!" She growled, thrashing against their restraining arms. She cursed Atem in that moment. He was the straw that broke the camel's back, because she knew that her three friends couldn't hold her back alone. Not when she was this angry.

"Pathetic," Seto stated, a look of disgust on his face even as Joey tried to get at him. Then he turned and walked away.

"Hey! I ain't done with you!" She shouted after him.

"No, but _I_ am done with _you,_ " he replied, not even bothering to turn around and say it to her face.

It took ten minutes to calm Joey to the point of not scouring the park for Kaiba and killing him on the spot. Once they were to that point, Atem went off in search of Kaiba (Joey volunteered to help, but was shot down) and Yugi, Ryo, and Malik did their best to distract Joey and keep her away from her very first murder victim.

When that day was finally over (it had been a long one for everyone but Bakura and Marik) they got into their separate cars. Yugi's heading to her house and the limo to the mansion.

* * *

Once the limo arrived at the mansion, Seto immediately retreated to his room with his laptop and locked the door. He had one priority, and that was finding Mokuba. Atem had no right to force him to stop his goal for the sake of amusing himself and the two criminals living in the mansion.

Seto had no need for friends; they would only get in his way. He only made "friends" if it was in his benefit, and he saw no benefit in making nice with the easily-agitated dog and her useless Hikari friends. There was no way someone as uneducated as her would be able to help him at all.

* * *

Factoid #22: Whenever Joey was introduced to Tristan's girlfriends, she would accidentally-on-purpose scare them away because a) she thought that Tristan could do better b) she told them if they broke his heart she'd kill them c) they thought Tristan had a crush on her so they left, even though it's not true. They're like brother and sister. Or, sometimes more accurately, like brothers. Tristan thought his girlfriend troubles would be over when Joey pretended to be a boy.

And a note: Tristan isn't a player or anything, but he has the hardest time holding onto a girlfriend for more than a week. This is partially due to the above factoid.


	22. Drabbles the First

AN: I think I wrote enough consecutive stuff, right? **Well the next bunch (around 9 chapters) will be collections of in-universe story-moving drabbles** mostly about the friendships between each pair growing (other than Kaiba and Joey's but you'll see what those are about) plus some other significant character interactions and that will move us to the next arc. **When the next arc starts it will go back into consecutive story mode. The drabbles will be covering a six-month period so by the time the second arc starts they will all have known each other for a little more than eight months.** Thank you for your patience, I know I'm a bit wordy!

* * *

 **Hidden talents**

"Stupid bike!" Bakura snarled at the motorcycle that he had driven to school that morning instead of taking the limo. Hey, being a prisoner of the richest and most powerful man in all of Japan had its perks.

But this particular "perk" wasn't working. And Bakura, while being a genius in thievery, knew nothing about mechanics. So he did the one thing he knew nearly always worked: kick it.

But, as he drew his leg back to deal the dent-inducing blow, the last person he ever expected to ever interrupt anyone rushed in between him and his target.

"Wait!" Ryo cried, running in between the angry Yami and his motorcycle. She knew he might just kick her, whether on accident or on purpose, but she couldn't let such a beautiful piece of art get whacked like this! To her surprise, he stopped immediately. "I... I think I can fix it..." She explained timidly.

"Fine. Be my guest," he said, trying to sound as if he didn't care one way or the other. But, honestly, he was truly interested. So far, the white-haired Hikari in disguise hadn't shown a single Yami-like trait since entering the school but as she pulled off her jacket, laying it on the ground, and rolled up her sleeves to her elbows, she seemed to be pulling it off rather well. When she started working, looking completely absorbed in the machine, she didn't even notice the crowd gathering around her.

Before, she was the Hikari of the school; everyone who wasn't friends with her called her that because she was the perfect little Hikari in a school full of Yamis. And that was not pleasant for her. Some were even starting to doubt that she was even a Yami, though her exposed tattoos showed that she was. But the Yamis looked on, impressed as she worked. That was something that no Hikari could do, surely. Hikaris were just there to be compassionate and submissive, most had never seen, much less touched, the inside of a machine before.

"...There. It should work now," she said in a few minutes, turning and smiling bashfully. She blushed when she realized how many people had gathered. Slowly, Bakura walked over and tested it. It roared, just how he liked it.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Asked a spiky-haired troublemaker, Tetsu.

"My dad was a mechanic," she stated, smiling uneasily. She didn't like talking about her father, not since he'd been taken. She turned to bow goodbye to Bakura, but stopped a moment in confusion. He was smirking at her. But it wasn't a mocking smirk like he usually had, it was... Proud?

No, that couldn't be right.

* * *

 **Accidental Lesbianism**

Joey looked up in surprise as a letter was slipped onto her desk in the middle of art class. By the time she had looked up, whoever had delivered it was gone so she reached down to read it.

It read _Sarah Holzback_ in very fancy letters surrounded by hearts and other doodles. Blinking in surprise, she tore open the letter. She did try to open it nicely, but it just ripped! Regardless, the letter was okay so she took _that_ out and begun to read.

About two lines in, she stopped completely, mouth dropping open.

This was a love letter, clearly addressed to her. And it was from a girl.

Over the next few weeks, Joey apparently became very popular with the girls living in the town around the school. She got a love letter at _least_ once a week, some sending two or three over a period of time since she never responded (She was avoiding them like the plague!).

Honestly, it had never even occurred to Joey that she may someday get married. It hadn't really ever been an option in her mind, being how she was, and even her friends had never really thought of it. She and Tristan both plotted his marriage to their own ends, but even the thought of Joey in a relationship made the two collapse into a laughing fit.

The closest thing she had ever had to a boyfriend was Hirutani, and he was more of a creepy, obsessed, stalker.

Despite that, would it kill them to have just one love letter sent from a guy?

* * *

 **Toilet Ninja Unmasked**

"Eh, Tristan?" Tristan jumped, trying to shove all of the cleaning supplies he was using behind him as if that would make them invisible.

"Heh heh... Hi Joey!" He said, grinning at said girl. But it was rather fixed, and his eyebrow kept twitching.

"What were ya doin'?" She asked, trying to look at what was behind her best friend. He moved to block her view.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

"Tris, were you... cleaning?" A slow grin spread across her face and Tristan felt his heart drop to the floor. "You're the janitor!"

"SHH!" He hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was within hearing range.

"How come no one knows? Do you only clean between classes?" Her eyes widened and then she smirked. "You're a toilet ninja!"

"Who told you that?!" He demanded, remembering that the phrase "toilet ninja" was never to be used again.

"What?" Joey asked.

"Ah, never mind," Tristan replied, sweat beading on his forehead. Returning from the land of confusion, Joey grinned once more. This was not something she was going to let go, and Tristan knew it by the smirk she was giving him as she walked to class.

* * *

 **Semantics**

"What are you doing?" Malik asked, looking down at Marik in confusion. She had been searching for him because of Atem asking her to keep him out of trouble, and found him assembling some sort of device in the art classroom. It was safe to assume that it was trouble.

"I'm going to put this on the bottom of ol' purple-head's desk. It'll make a big noise and freak her out! She won't see it coming!" He said excitedly, finishing the assembly. "Maybe the airhead'll cry!"

"That's not going to work," Malik replied, looking over the manual that had been thrown on the ground and obviously not looked at.

"Why not?" Marik pouted. Malik observed him in silence for a moment. She was supposed to be keeping him out of trouble... Exploding the teacher's desk would be worse than just making a loud noise, right? Yeah, and she could talk him out of trouble from there. Talking him out of punishment counts as keeping him out of trouble.

"This piece goes here, that wire crosses over this one and connects to the yellow socket not the blue, and the top goes on like this," she stated, fixing the mistakes as she pointed them out. "Now you can put it under the desk with this." She pulled the two-sided adhesive out of the box and gave it to him.

Malik and Marik shared a grin after the device had been planted. This was the start of something beautiful.

* * *

Factoid #23: After he figured out she was a girl, Kaiba and Joey got into several _actual_ fights, no-holds-bars knock 'em dead fistfights (Joey, while fighting her hardest, could actually beat Kaiba, though not without much difficulty. The reason he takes her down so easily so far is that she's holding back because she doesn't want to get kicked out of the Academy and leave the others to their own devices and she knows that if they really get into it Kaiba would realize she's a girl and probably get her kicked out as well as putting the others under suspicion). They have injured each other pretty severely; one fight Joey broke her wrist and, in retaliation, she fractured a rib or two when he was distracted by the fact that he broke her wrist (though it was already fractured from a recent fight so it really wasn't Kaiba's fault). They are usually stopped by the others before it gets to this point, and after this point they come to some mutual agreement to ignore each other and head to the hospital wing.

Why did Joey have a fractured wrist from a previous fight if she doesn't get into fights anymore? That's a good question. You'll find out later~

AN: So there we go! Back on track, and Monday updates will be returning now.


	23. Drabbles the Second

**Contained**

Mokuba had been having a wonderful dream. It was about him and Seto and Atem all having fun and playing in the park together; Seto was laughing. Mokuba hadn't seen him really laugh in years. He snuggled down deep into the covers of his plush bed, not wanting to have to wake up and face his reality. He peeked an eye open and looked at the clock. 7:30. He was supposed to be up by now. He closed his eyes regardless; no one had come to get him up yet.

There were footsteps in the hall outside and Mokuba jumped up, frantically pulling on day clothes. Which, in this place, was a dress shirt and pants.

 _Click._

Mokuba spun to the door, eyes wide with panic until he saw who it was. He slouched down on his bed with a groan, not even bothering to finish buttoning up his shirt.

"Mana, I thought you were Croquet!" He whined at the brown-haired Egyptian girl, who giggled at his plight as he fell back on the bed.

"Sorry! I just thought you might want some breakfast." She smiled, revealing the elegant silver tray she had been carrying.

"Thank you!" He chirped, sitting up immediately and smiling at his personal maid for the past three years and possibly only friend in a hundred miles.

Mana had come into his prison a couple months after he arrived. She was just as scared as he was, also being held prisoner because she was actually a princess of Egypt. She was being used as leverage over the royal family, but everyone else in Egypt thought she was in a boarding school in America. So, both of them being absolutely terrified, neither of them said more than ten words to the other for the first five months. She had been reduced to a slave for possibly the brattiest kid alive (he acknowledged it, but he had also grown out of it quickly when he learned that Croquet didn't respond well to things like that) and he had been taken from his brother and cousin who were the only people he had ever really been friends with. But both bounced back fairly quickly and soon became good friends.

"How's Noah?" Mokuba asked as he bit into his simple ham sandwich. Mana made a bit of a face. Noah was another person Mokuba had met since he had been taken away and Mana didn't like him very much at all. This could have possibly been that Noah's last name was Kaiba, being Gozobura's actual son, but was probably because he was a bit of a cold-hearted jerk. He was very tall and had black hair, Mokuba liked to think that maybe Seto looked something like him because they were the same age.

"He's alright. I don't see why you care so much," Mana pouted. She knew that Mokuba saw Noah as something like family, being adoptive brothers and all, but she also knew Noah couldn't care less about what happened to Mokuba. He was only "on their side" because he hated his father more than he hated everyone else and he had made this very clear to both of them. About three years ago he would have done anything for his father, but when he was replaced with Seto as the heir to the company and sent to take care of Mokuba instead... well, he wasn't very happy.

"So what do I have to do today?" Mokuba asked, changing the topic. Mana always got grumpy when Noah was even mentioned.

"Well, no public appearances." Mana joked, rolling her eyes. No one even knew he was here and he wasn't allowed out of the house, most of the time he wasn't allowed out of his room either.

"Gee, thanks."

* * *

 **The Usual**

"You wanted to see us." Bakura sneered as he and Marik walked into Gozobura Kaiba's office. It was very simplistic, a lot more than most would expect from a tyrannical ruler. However, while Gozobura loved power and money, he was also a penny-pincher and all of the luxuries he bought for himself were mostly just to show everyone that, yes, he was rich enough to own a mansion as big as ten of their houses put together and still have enough money to buy Japan.

"Ah, yes. You see, I have a small problem. A company has come out with an... altered version of some of my technology."

 _The duel disks or the nuclear warheads?_ Marik thought bitterly.

Either way, Gozobura probably wanted them to steal the plans so he could make sure that the product really was altered, not improved. If it was improved, he would miraculously come out with the new version a week before the competition and no one would accuse him of the theft. Not if they didn't want Gozobura's infamous shadow enforcers (so called because no one, not even Bakura or Marik, had ever actually _seen_ one) to come after them.

* * *

 **Perfect**

Bakura had been thinking about something for a while.

Ryo... was perfect.

He had watched her walk through crowds. She never bumped into anyone, sliding through the throngs without a problem. She was completely silent. She had accidentally scared Joey several times with that little skill, which led him to believe that she wasn't even trying to be sneaky. She was a natural.

Then was her skill with mechanics; she could identify any sort of security, transport, or tracking device before anyone else.

Yes... she would be the perfect apprentice.

Joey was obviously not subtle enough, Kaiba didn't care, Atem just failed, Marik was more of a conspicuous beat-them-up-and-rob-them person rather than the pick-pocketing that Bakura preferred. Yugi probably wouldn't even be able to reach most pockets and Malik simply didn't care enough to be taught.

The only problem that he could spot right off the bat was how he was going to get her to agree to actually learning. She was obviously too nice to actually want to steal from people... could he make it sound like a safety precaution? Just in case you ever get locked in a room and don't have the key... yeah, that could work. Then he could work on actually getting her to steal stuff.

* * *

 **The Innevitable**

"Hey, Ishizu?... Yeah... Will you stop doing that?!" Joey seethed into the phone. "I called you, not da otha way around, ya not supposed ta know what I'm callin' about before I say it!"

 _"But I was correct, wasn't I?"_ Ishizu asked through the line.

"Well, yeah... But that doesn't mean ya can just do dat! It's rude!"

 _"Are you going to ask for my help then, or is your pride in the way, Josephine?"_ Joey resisted the urge to slam the phone down, even though that wouldn't really hang up since it was a cell. She did have an old flip phone, so she could flip it closed in anger, but it still wouldn't have the same effect. Either way, she would just have to call back and ask again and that would just be humiliating.

So, she swallowed her pride and ground out, "Ishizu, would you please do ya magicy-thing dat changes my tattoos even when we're not disguised?"

 _"Not satisfied with your soul mate?"_

" **Ishizu..."**

 _"Yes, but you will have to see me every two days even outside of school."_ Joey weighed her options. See Malik's annoyingly calm and smug magic older sister who liked calling Joey by her full name, or risk Kaiba seeing her tattoos.

"Fine."

* * *

Ishizu smiled when Joey hung up the phone, one of her hands moving to touch her Horace-eye necklace almost of it's on volition. Just as it had shown her Joey's plan to attend a dueling school, it had warned that Kaiba would eventually find out who his soul mate was.

Despite Joey's attempts, this was in vain.

But it would definitely make it much more interesting.

* * *

Factoid #24: It was mentioned in the first chapter (I believe) that Joey didn't actually believe Ishizu could change their tattoos or genders with magic. If so, why ask her? The answer is simply that it wasn't Joey who had that idea. She was planning on getting into the academy, but wasn't sure how exactly she was going to make it work. Ishizu approached _her_ with the magical solution, not the other way around.


	24. Drabbles the Third

**Drabbles the third**

* * *

 **Shouldn't Have Asked**

It was science, and Ryo and Bakura were sharing a table in the back of the room.

Bakura had spread several different types of locks in front of himself and was methodically picking each over and over until it took under a certain time for each different type (one was ten seconds, another was thirty, but none were above a minute. They were all easy).

"You can open all of these locks in under a minute each?" Ryo muttered, she thought too quietly for Bakura to hear. But she was proven wrong when said boy hummed slightly and bobbed his head.

They lapsed into silence for a moment, the only sound at their table being the clicking of locks. Ryo watched as Bakura picked them, amazed at his speed. Also, wondering if she should upgrade all of the locks in her house for security reasons.

"Where did you get these anyway?" Ryo asked, picking up a simple combo lock like those on the school lockers. Bakura's eyes flicked over to her for only a moment without pausing as he jiggled the thin metal pieces in another lock. She looked up at him just in time to see him smirk, and she put the lock down as if it were an unstable bomb. "I don't want to know, do I?" She asked, voice laced with resignation. All this received from the other white-haired person was a dark chuckle, confirming Ryo's suspicions.

* * *

 **Ditching and Switching**

"Tristan, you can't leave early today. You have too much work to do." Tristan's direct boss (king of the janitor people) informed him, unsympathetic about his plight. Tristan had a date scheduled with a normal girl named Roxanne, but wouldn't be able to make it because of his cleaning duties.

Tristan slouched, giving into depression. That is, until he saw a flash of blond hair running down the hallway.

"Don't worry, I already have a replacement..."

* * *

Joey had been minding her own business, scouring the school for Kaiba (he was in the library, but Joey didn't even know they had one), when suddenly she was grabbed, dragged into a janitor's closet, provided with a supply cart and a list of duties, and shoved back out somehow in a full janitor uniform over her school uniform.

There could only be one person responsible for this.

* * *

"And I work in that building over there, the Yami high school," Tristan pointed out to Roxanne, a tall (but shorter than him) hourglass-shaped brunette.

"Hm," she hummed, looking utterly disinterested. Tristan, however, did not catch onto this and took it as an interested hum.

"Yeah, did you know most Yamis-"

"TRISTAN, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" And with that, Tristan was tackled to the ground by what looked to Roxanne to be a blond Yami. A very fit and handsome blond Yami. She was definitely interested now, as the two tussled on the ground. About a minute later, she finally decided to speak up.

"Hey..." She said hesitantly. Much to her surprise, the fight stopped immediately. Of course, at that point the blond had Tristan in a headlock and Tristan was halfway to kicking him in the gut. There was some pretty amazing contortionism going on in there. They stared at her in silence for a moment.

"Really Tristan? Anotha one?" Was the first thing that came out of the blond's mouth. Suddenly, both boys were upright and completely fine. However, Roxanne was too busy staring at the blond's eyes to register the rude comment. Such a beautiful shade of honey...

"Hi, my name's Roxanne." She said in her best flirty voice, placing a hand on the blond's left bicep.

"Ah, hi. Joey." When she didn't let go, instead looping her arm around Joey's and holding tighter, Joey looked to Tristan for help. "Eh, Tristan, could ya take ya girlfriend back?" He looked absolutely perplexed at what was happening, but Tristan's jaw had dropped and he was at a complete loss for words. He knew exactly what had just happened.

His girlfriend had just been stolen.

On _accident._

By _Joey_.

* * *

 **Revelation Reminders**

"Today I'm going to be assigning partners for the project that we talked about last class," Professor Hopkins announced. Almost the whole class groaned; no one liked assigned partners. All you could do was hope you didn't get someone you hated. "Gonbrith and MacBalt." The boys groaned, glaring at each other from across the room. "Pintlam and Darling."

"Yeah!" They cheered, high-fiving.

The list continued like that until finally "and, last but not least, Moto and Sennin." Yugi and Atem shared a grin.

* * *

Yugi sat up in her room, working on an old puzzle that her grandfather had given her for her birthday. She had just about put together the tenth piece, it was a very difficult puzzle, when she heard the bell on the store door telling her that someone had come in.

Solomon was manning the store at the moment, so Yugi ignored it and continued with her puzzle.

"Yugi! Someone is here to see you! ~It's a Yami~!" Her grandfather sung, and she was sure that he was wiggling his eyebrows. Yugi immediately put down her puzzle and rushed downstairs. Partly because it was probably Atem, but mostly because he was alone with her grandfather. Don't get her wrong, she loved her grandfather, but she really did not trust him alone with any Yami that was being nice to her.

"Hi Atem, ready to work on our project?" She asked as she skidded into the room. And she saw, with some surprise, Atem looking at the games in the shop with genuine interest. Most thought them hokey and old, with the exception of duel monsters of course, but Atem seemed to find them as interesting as she did.

"Ah, Yugi," he said, turning towards her with a smile when he heard her run in. "Yes, where are we going to work?"

"In my room, I'll show you where it is." She replied, turning a walking up the stairs.

"Keep the door open at all times!" Solomon yelled up after. Yugi blushed scarlet, but Atem only chuckled.

Having decided that they needed to do research first, they had already stocked up on a whole bunch of books to read for background knowledge. Which is what they were doing currently, Atem sitting against one wall and Yugi laying on the floor. Yugi was fully absorbed in her book about the American Revolution against the British (strange things, those Americans), but Atem had quickly gotten bored and was examining the room.

It was pretty nice. Nothing close to what he had, even having the second-smallest room in the whole of Gozobura's mansion, but he thought it would be a good room anyway. Her room really showed her love for games and puzzles, especially duel monsters, because everywhere he looked there seemed to be another. The Eiffel tower puzzle on her desk, right next to a box containing what seemed to be a game centered around dinosaurs, every shelf was overflowing with boxes containing all types of games from strategy to pure luck, 3D puzzles interspersed as some sort of strangely-themed decorum, posters on her walls clearly depicted Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, her two favorite cards, as well as Red-eyes Black Dragon, Change of Heart, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. He observed that the Red-eyes poster was noticeably newer than the others, but shrugged it off. He could only guess that those cards were also somehow important.

Soon his eyes fell onto the main occupant of the room. She was lying on her stomach in the center of the room, legs kicking slightly as she read her history book. After about 30 seconds he realized that he was staring. Then he decided, he had been adopted by the most powerful person in all Japan, he was entitled to a bit of staring. The longer he looked, the more something tugged on the back of his mind about the picture he was seeing. He tried to puzzle it out for the next few minutes, but nothing came to him.

Figuring that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, he reached to pick up the book he had set down a good while ago with his left hand. In doing so, he spotted his own orange tattoo that ran up to his elbow.

"Yugi... May I see your arm?" He asked slowly, glancing between his exposed tattoo and hers.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Sure," Yugi muttered distractedly, still reading as she held out her own left arm.

"No, your other arm."

Yugi blinked in confusion as she finally stopped reading long enough to process what Atem had asked her. Sitting up, she gave him a puzzled look.

"Why?" She quizzed, though still holding out her arm.

"Just a hunch..." Atem said, almost to himself, as he moved his left arm beside her right.

And, as it turned out, the hunch was 100% correct.

They sat in silence for a few moments, both just staring at the almost identical tattoos; the only difference being color.

This was very awkward.

Atem was thrown for a loop, to be sure, and Yugi, who had somehow forgotten about this particular little tidbit of life altering information in the few months since she was told, was just as... well... not horrified, but not happy. Just kind of shocked.

"Um... Maybe we should... take a break?" Yugi suggested awkwardly. Atem just nodded, his brain completely flat lined from shock. "I'll get some sandwiches..."

* * *

Factoid #25: Remember the previous factoid about Tristan's love life and thinking his problems were over when Joey began pretending to be a guy? Well, off of that one, since first pretending to be a boy, Joey has accidentally stolen three of Tristan's girlfriends.

Oh look ~ Yugi and Atem know now!


	25. Drabbles the Fourth

**Allie (Guest):** Thanks a ton for your review! I update Mondays, usually after 3:00 pm Mountain time, but I don't have a specific time. First suggestion: good idea! I do have some of that planned for the others to implement on Seto and Joey, and I was thinking of having Bakura/Ryou and Malik/Marik to try on each other, but Yugi and Yami don't really need matchmaking. They're the only not-emotionally-stunted pair, so they're fine by themselves. As for your second suggestion, I actually have a whole part written about that and it's the next chapter, so you'll get to read it! It's good to know someone else had the same idea as me! Third: No kissing scenes. Honestly, I only do romance because it makes things funnier; I kinda suck at actually writing romance, which is why I labeled Undercover as Friendship/Humor.

 **Drabbles the fourth**

* * *

 **Unwavering**

"Noah! Hey Noah!" Mokuba yelled as he sped to catch up to the much taller and older boy.

"Hello Mokuba," Noah said with a smile. A smile that looked completely mismatched with his cold eyes. Mokuba didn't even bat an eye, smiling back vibrantly.

After a quick conversation between the two adoptive brothers, Mokuba and Noah parted ways. As soon as Noah's face was no longer in Mokuba's view, his smile dropped completely. He scowled for a moment, thinking about how much of an idiot that kid was and that it was ridiculous that his older brother had replaced him. But then a smirk slid onto his face. If the kid liked him, if he got the kid far enough onto his side, there was a fair chance he could take down Seto. And then, both Seto and his father would pay.

The only problem was that, even after three and a half years, Mokuba still believed that Seto was looking for him.

* * *

 **Surprisingly** **Sneaky**

Okay, so maybe Ryo wasn't as easy to trick as Bakura had previously thought. This was both a good thing, and very irritating. On the good side, she wasn't quite as naive as he had thought which was good when judging what to steal. However, he couldn't manage to get her to let him teach her how to even pick a lock! Yes, he had tried several times, but she just refused to cooperate!

So, he was going to give her a practical lesson.

* * *

Ryo looked around in suppressed suspicion as she was led into a room by Bakura. He had called her, telling her that they needed to work on an art project. An art project that she was quite sure didn't actually exist. But she allowed him the benefit of the doubt.

Which she confirmed as a mistake as, in her distraction, Bakura slipped out of the room and locked it.

"Bakura!" She exclaimed angrily, though it sounded more like whining.

"Oh no, you're locked in!" Bakura was obviously smirking. "There's a lock pick kit on the table." Ryo looked and, sure enough, there it was. But she wasn't going to pick the lock! First of all, she wasn't really paying attention when Bakura tried to teach her the first seventeen times and second, lock picking was not the type of skill she wanted to have.

"Bakura, let me out. I'm not going to pick the lock." Silence. "Bakura?" No response.

He hadn't really left... Had he?

Five minutes passed without a sound.

"I'll call Joey!" She threatened through the door.

Unbeknownst to her, his eyes widened comically. Last time he got a bruise from the blonde it had taken a month to just start fading, and that was just from grabbing him!

"You wouldn't dare! Besides, you don't have a phone."

Frowning, Ryo reached for her phone in her pocket and realized that he was quite right. But she had it when she came... Bakura had taken her phone.

Well fine then.

"There's a phone in here," Ryo said, sounding the closest to malicious Bakura had ever heard her.

He couldn't get the door open fast enough.

She stepped out of the room with her usual, kind smile and graciously thanked Bakura for letting her out. That was when he realized what room she had been locked in.

A spare bedroom. A bed, a table, a dresser, and a vanity.

No phone.

"Tozoro..."

Ryo ran.

* * *

 **Millennium Headache**

Atem groaned, face falling into his hands in exasperation.

Usually, he was pretty good at puzzles. He wasn't nearly as avid a puzzler as Yugi appeared to be, but he did enjoy it and was often able to finish even the most difficult puzzles in less than half of the predicted time.

Except, apparently, this one.

It was a beautiful golden mess that came in an engraved box that he'd had as long as he could remember. It had been a gift from his father, according to Seto, given to him after one of the important diplomat's many excursions to Egypt. Ever since he'd heard that story in the orphanage, he'd resolved to finish the puzzle no matter what.

Except that was much harder than it sounded.

He'd thought it would be a piece of cake; pieces seemed to just fall into place when he got his hands on them usually, but in all these years he hadn't made much progress.

That is, two pieces.

 _Two_.

Only one match in all his years of work, which was honestly statistically impossible.

He didn't even know what shape the stupid thing would be!

Atem let out a deep sigh, arms dropping to the table and head still hanging.

His Yami tattoo caught his eye, bringing to mind an image of that same tattoo in a soothing purple… and the puzzle-solving genius that was branded with them.

A grin flitted across Atem's face.

* * *

"Hello Solomon," Atem greeted the short man with his best-behavior smile as he entered the Kame Game shop.

"Hello Atem," Yugi's grandfather replied in kind, "here to work on your project?"

Atem did not miss that Solomon's eyes were flicking to the ornate golden box he was holding, obviously suspicious of its contents. Honestly, the grey-haired Moto scared him a bit, so he decided to clear the air right up front.

"Yes, and to give Yugi this," he offered the box for inspection, and Solomon almost snatched it.

"How do you open it?" Solomon asked, squinting suspiciously at the box after he tried, and failed, to pry it open twice. Atem gave the older man a confused look, which he immediately dropped when the older man fixed him with an irritated glare. The box wasn't locked; it didn't even have a latch. When Atem reached forward, it opened for him without opposition.

How strange, that Solomon couldn't pry it open. Gramps wasn't weak (Atem had found that out first hand when he had offered to help put away a box. The gray-haired man had been wielding it as if it were empty, and when he gave it to Atem the Yami had almost fallen over because it was so heavy), so it had to be something else.

When the man saw the disjointed contents, he raised an eyebrow.

"It's a puzzle. I've noticed that Yugi likes them, and this is one I've been working on for years with nearly no progress. I thought she would like to have a crack at it."

Solomon squinted at the barely-legible hieroglyphics on the lid; _One hand to enter; one hand to assemble._ Perhaps Atem had missed them, or hadn't been able to decipher them, but it looked to Solomon like it was saying that only one person could solve the puzzle.

Solomon regarded the Yami with barely-concealed suspicion for a moment, but then nodded and handed the box back. He appreciated that Atem seemed to be a rather nice Yami (being a normal himself, he really didn't have much experience with either Yamis or Hikaris of that age), but since Yugi's mother and father were both gone he was the only family she had to be cynical about any potential boyfriends.

Atem took that as permission to head up to Yugi's room, and did so with nary a falter in his step.

"Atem!" Yugi greeted from her desk, where she had been working on the math homework, when she heard him knock on the wall since her door was open. "What's that?" She asked almost immediately afterwards, eyes catching on the golden box. He held it out with merely a smirk and the Hikari took the container hesitantly, examining the outside before looking back to Atem.

"Open it," he encouraged. Unfortunately, it seemed that Yugi was also unable to open the lid, and after two failed tries gave Atem an utterly embarrassed look. When the lid opened for him without resistance, she blushed scarlet at her self-perceived weakness.

Her embarrassment was completely forgotten in seconds.

Just as Atem thought, when the box had been opened and Yugi saw the contents the picture was beautiful.

Light from the room was reflecting off of the metal, bathing Yugi's face in a golden light as her innocent violet eyes drank in the sight of such a magnificent puzzle with absolute amazement.

"I've had it for years, but I can't seem to make any progress. You like this sort of puzzle, so I thought I'd offer you a chance to solve it." Yugi looked like she was in heaven.

"Really?" She asked, eyes shining with absolute joy as she graced Atem with a brilliant smile.

"Yes, it's all yours," Atem assured with his rarely-seen soft smile.

* * *

 **"Studying"**

Marik let out an obnoxious groan, dramatically flopping onto the table where he and Malik had been "studying". Really, _she_ had been reading some cheesy romance novel and _he_ was just siting there because he claimed he had nothing better to do.

"Something wrong?" Malik asked without even looking up. She was used to such reactions to sitting still for long periods of time; Joey didn't particularly enjoy studying either.

"This is _boring_ ," he complained, face still firmly buried in the table.

"Then leave," Malik replied unsympathetically, turning the page of her book.

Marik was silent for a moment.

Jeez, where could a guy get some sympathy? He had been expecting her to at least _ask_ if he wanted to do something else!

He grumbled, shifting into a slightly more comfortable position from which he could glare broodingly at Malik.

Malik continued to read, not even acknowledging him.

"How about we scare Ms. Miho?"

"We did that yesterday."

"So?"

Another page turned. Another minute of silence. Apparently the periwinkle-haired lady was off-limits today.

"How about we disrupt the library?"

"We're in the library," Malik replied once again without stopping her reading.

"It'll make it easy," Marik grinned psychotically, sitting up straight in excitement.

"I'd like to _continue_ to have library privileges."

"Oh," Marik slumped on the table once more.

Two more pages turned. More silence.

Marik began fidgeting. He didn't particularly _like_ silence.

Malik's eye twitched. Marik's fidgeting was distracting her from her book. She let out a put-upon sigh, closing the book with a _clap._ Marik bolted upright, a huge grin decorating his face; Malik had stopped reading! She was gonna be _fun_ again!

"I saw Ryou and Bakura head towards the left wing. Shall we pester them?" Malik suggested boredly. Marik shot off without pause, leaving Malik to follow after at a walking pace; she wasn't about to abandon her dignity just because Marik didn't have any himself.

* * *

Factoid #26: I have a love-hate relationship with Kaiba. By that I mean I read fanfiction and am all like "oh, he's not that bad, he's just misunderstood" and then I watch a real episode and am like "oh, wait, that was just OOCness. Kaiba's seriously a jerk". That being said, I'm trying to keep Kaiba in character in this, keeping in mind that since he actually had Atem throughout Gozobura's abuse he turned out slightly less messed up. So basically, I'm trying alternate character interpretation.

Oh ho ho, millennium items are a thing! I did mention one a few chapters ago as well. But then, where are the others?


	26. Drabbles the Fifth

**Drabbles the Fifth**

* * *

 **Joey Revealed**

"So, Yugi," Atem started, casually leaning back in his chair. They had finally finished the month-long project. "Do you have any idea what's up with Joey?" Yugi stiffened slightly and Atem immediately caught on to the fact she was going to lie about it. He had been hinting about wanting to know for the last two weeks and she had avoided the subject expertly, so he decided to ask straight-out and see what happened.

"U-um, up? I haven't noticed anything," she replied, not looking Atem in the eyes. In fact, she was focused completely on the computer. Which was off. Atem raised an eyebrow.

"Aibou, you really shouldn't lie to your soul mate," he said, looking smug when Yugi's cheeks tinted red.

"I don't know if I should tell you..." Yugi muttered indecisively, turning her eyes to the only slightly more finished golden puzzle sitting across the room. The box was still opened, as they had discovered that only Atem could open it for some reason. "It's not my business..."

"Will it hurt someone if you tell me?" He asked, staring seriously into her eyes. She had looked at him, and that was her first mistake.

"W-well... technically not..." She mumbled.

"Good! Then what's the harm? I'm her friend too, am I not?" That was a low blow and Atem knew it, but hey, he was the dark half for a reason. All he wanted to know was why Joey was so obsessed about keeping her tattoos secret even though they already knew she was a Hikari, and if it was something they would need to help her through. See? Good intentions, and the end justifies the means and all that.

"I guess... if you promise not to tell Joey or anyone else, especially people who would tell Seto," she replied, suddenly very determined.

"I promise, but what does this have to do with Seto?"

* * *

"So," Bakura started nonchalantly as he walked down a suspiciously convenient empty hall lined with empty classrooms, "you know why Joey's hiding her tattoos." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Ryo slowed to a halt, looking at him with confusion and suspicion.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because she's a friend!" Bakura did his best to look morally insulted. Despite what many thought, he actually did like the idiotic blond. She was the most amusing Hikari he had ever met, and she actually gave him a run for his money when he was pick-pocketing. He cared!

Plus, he wanted some dirt in case Joey ever felt the need to squish him again.

Granted, mostly the second.

He had been onto Joey from the beginning, noticing that she was hiding her tattoos before anyone else in their group (other than maybe Marik), but he hadn't asked Ryo before now because he thought she knew as much as he did. And he would probably still think that (Ryo was very good at avoiding topics as well as other things) had she not slipped up that morning; she shook her head in exasperation when Joey inadvertently made a big deal of keeping her tattoos covered.

Ryo gave him a smile that said "I don't believe you so I'm not going to answer, but you can go ahead and dream on." He hated that smile. And she still looked so darn Hikari-like with it on too, as if she wasn't basically telling him to go screw himself.

He scowled. Then, he gave her a grin as evil as the one she was giving him and hers disappeared into a look of worry.

She opened her mouth to caution him against trying anything but, before she could so much as squeak in surprise, he had shoved her into an empty classroom, walked in behind her, closed the door, and locked it.

"Swiped them off the janitor," Bakura said nonchalantly at Ryo's puzzled look. He didn't find it important to mention that he knew Tristan was the janitor; he thought everyone knew already. "Now, neither of us are leaving this room until you tell me," he stated, grinning as he settled himself on a desk and proceeded to stare her into submission.

Ryo shifted uncomfortably; she knew there was no way she was getting out with him in here, and she couldn't trick him into opening the door again.

"Class will be starting soon..."

"Then I suggest you answer quickly."

.

.

.

 ** _RIIIING!_**

Ryo jumped at the sound of the bell and gave Bakura a panic-infused look that would have made anyone else open the door in a heartbeat. But Bakura just laughed.

"We have to get to class!"

"Then you should probably tell me quickly."

Ryo shifted, glancing at the door in subdued panic.

"O-okay, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone!"

* * *

"That was impressive." Marik noted as he observed Joey doing something like a triple backflip handspring across the street in a fit of panic. She was trying to keep Kaiba from seeing her tattoos.

"Do you wanna know why she goes through so much trouble?" Malik asked without a second's hesitation. Marik grinned.

* * *

All three Hikaris drew in a breath to impart their blond friend's most fiercely-kept secret.

"Joey is Seto's soul mate."

* * *

 **A Gift, Huh?**

"Hey Yugi," Malik, who was sprawled unceremoniously an said Hikari's bed, called as she spotted something in Yugi's room that she had never seen before. "What's this?"

The tri-colored girl glanced over from where she was sorting through her cards (she _had_ been doing her math homework, but even studious Yugi had to take break from parabolas every once in a while) to see Malik turning over the three connected pieces of the gold puzzle in her hands. Yugi had only found one match since she had received the puzzle, but she saw that as a great leap because the three made what looked like a corner, maybe of a pyramid, and now she and Atem had some idea of how it would look when finished.

"Oh, um, it's a puzzle. Atem gave it to me."

Malik halted in her examination, head snapping so as to look at her shorter friend as one of her eyebrows rocketed upwards.

"He gave you this? Just _gave_ it to you?" She asked, sitting up. Yugi nodded, confused as to her friend's reaction. "This? The solid gold ancient box that contains a solid gold legendary puzzle?"

"Legendary?" Yugi asked, completely lost. She'd never heard of the puzzle before. She knew it was old, and the hieroglyphics that were too faded for her to read told her it was Egyptian (it hadn't occurred to Yugi to ask her grandfather what they said; with his many years of practice he would have been able to extrapolate what the glyphs said through the halves he could still make out), but since gramps was such an Egypt buff, a trait that had been passed at least through knowledge to Yugi, she would have thought if it were really famous she would have at least heard about it.

"I'm not sure _exactly_ what's so important about them," Malik admitted, now holding and examining the box, "but Ishizu says that any golden, ancient Egyptian item with the eye of Horace on it holds great power. And she had that weird necklace of hers, so I figure she knows what she's talking about..." By this time, Malik was speaking more to herself than to Yugi, but Yugi was listening to her every word anyway.

"What necklace?" Yugi asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

"Golden, ancient, eye of Horace. She covers it whenever she goes out in public for some reason, but I've never seen her take it off. She probably wears it in the shower."

"But what- Ah, wait!" Yugi cut off her own question when she noticed Malik closing the box so as to more easily examine the outside without spilling the contents.

The box shut with a small click, leaving Yugi sighing quietly and Malik looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"Only Atem can open it," Yugi explained, almost pouting at the idea that her newest and most perplexing puzzle being locked out of her reach until Atem found the time to visit once more.

"Really?" Malik asked, eyes flicking between Yugi and her golden box intermittently. "Weird..."

* * *

 **Critical Fail**

Joey sat at the table in the park, for once wearing short sleeves. Her denim jacket was lying a little ways away on the table. She was painting for a school art project and she didn't want to get her clothes dirty; she didn't have an unlimited supply. They were supposed to be drawing a place that they went to relax, and while most teenagers would probably say their room Joey preferred the park. She could have painted the tree house, but that was a secret between her, Serenity, and Tristan. It wouldn't be a secret anymore if she did that.

She was almost done too; she had the field, the trees, the other kids playing, and the children's play set she sometimes played on with the little kids if there were no teens around. They reminded her of Serenity. Besides, no normal teenager that knew her reputation would want to be anywhere near her, and she didn't want to ruin her reputation by being seen playing with three year olds.

All she had left to paint was the sky.

She looked up to take a break for a moment, and almost choked. Walking into the park, towards her, was Seto Kaiba. She looked down. Hikari tattoos. Tattoos that matched his. Crap. Why was she so freaking bad at actually visiting Ishizu?

She couldn't let him see them!

Freaking out as Kaiba walked closer, Joey did the first thing that came to mind.

And no, it wasn't calmly putting on her jacket.

Seto raised an eyebrow as he arrived at the table Joey was sitting at in the park. She was watching him come with what he thought to be an annoyed look. Maybe it was because she knew he would comment about the blue paint completely coating her forearms and palms. There was also a small blue streak on her forehead and some more on the parts of her upper arms that were exposed.

"The art project is to paint a paper, not yourself." He stated. Joey scowled. She knew he was gonna say something like that.

"No, da project is ta paint ya favorite place, and my favorite place is wherever I am!" She retorted, feeling extremely proud of herself for coming up with such a snappy comeback.

"Then what is that?" He asked calmly, pointing out the painting of... an abstract version of the park, maybe? Or it could've been an upside-down green elephant singing ring-around-the-rosie. He was inclined to believe the first; Joey was definitely not the sharpest tool in the box but he was fairly certain she didn't do drugs.

"You come just ta insult me, Money-bags?" She sneered. He rolled his eyes.

"Someone asked me to give you this." He said, pulling out a letter and placing it on the table. Usually he wouldn't have delivered anything, but he knew how much Joey hated those letters. He started walking away in time to hear Joey groan about "another one!"

Ignoring that, he pondered Joey's weird paint job. It couldn't have been an accident; her arms were covered completely and the paint on her palms suggested she had used them to spread it. Come to think of it, he had never seen her tattoos, only the end of one for just enough time to notice that it was green. Was she hiding them? Why?

The fact that she didn't want him to see them only made Seto curious. And he was going to find out.

Back at table, Joey dropped her head into her hands, realizing a second too late that it would cover her face with paint.

* * *

Factoid #27: You'll notice that Bakura notes that Ryo's smiles mean different things (eg: excitement, anger, annoyance) while everyone else is just like "well, she's still smiling." This is because it really is only Bakura that notices the difference, very subtle as it is.

It's been noted that only Atem can open the box, but this seems to show that only Yugi can solve puzzle. Strange, isn't it? I'll give you a hint: it has to do with them being soul mates. This will be expounded on, but feel free to guess.


	27. Drabbles the Sixth

**Drabbles the sixth**

* * *

 **Some Too Many**

Joey had been making her way to the cafeteria in her normal way, too fast, when she heard something that caused her to stumble and face plant into a wall. Even more impressively, it made her stop thinking about food long enough to eavesdrop.

"Oh, yeah, she's fine. Did you know she got into a dueling school? Yeah, I taught her everything she knows...don't worry. I'm in the same school so I'm keeping an eye on her." That was Tristan. He had his flirting voice on. And he was talking to a girl who would be asking about one of the Hikaris. More specifically, her. That would mean he was talking to- "Of course. Goodbye Serenity." How on earth did he even _have_ her number when she didn't?

Oh, he was _so_ in for it.

Tristan looked up from the phone just in time to see a very angry older sister marching towards him. He looked around frantically. Nowhere to go. Even if he did run, Joey was faster than him when she was angry. Resigned to his fate, Tristan braced himself for the blow that was inevitably moving towards him at the very moment he was thinking this...

Instead, he felt Joey grab the front of his shirt and opened his eyes in time to see her throw him into an empty classroom. Then, she was off.

* * *

"Have you guys seen Joey? She's never late for lunch." Yugi asked Malik and Ryo half way through said time of day.

"No, do you think we should look for her?" Malik replied. Yugi nodded in response and the three got up to retrace Joey's steps. They had gotten no more than three hallways away from the lunch room when they heard the unmistakable sound of Joey's yelling from a classroom.

"Mary-Kay, Hope, Lyra, Roxanne, Janessa, Clair, and however many others you had that I didn't know about!"

Yugi, Malik, and Ryo peeked into the room and saw possibly the strangest scene they had ever laid eyes on. There was Joey in the front of the room, writing names upon names on the chalkboard, all girls' names. Then was Tristan, who was sitting in the (for some reason) only chair in the room, a dunce cap on his head as anime tears streamed down his face.

* * *

 **Same Old Story**

Mokuba stared disinterestedly at the man lecturing him about business. This was a daily thing in which Gozobura tried to brainwash him into being a ruthless businessman. He would like to think it wasn't working at all, but he also knew that it would probably have worked much more if he didn't have Mana there to keep him grounded. Which is a bit of a funny irony because Noah was grounded and Mana was probably somewhere in the stratosphere. However, Noah wouldn't be any help in this because he had been raised on these ideals and believed in them fully.

These "lessons" always made Mokuba wonder. About how Seto and Atem were doing. About whether or not they had received similar lectures.

About if Seto had adopted these ideals.

As soon as they occurred, Mokuba shook these thoughts out of his head. There was no way his brother, his nice, caring, big brother, could possibly ever turn into something like Gozobura Kaiba.

It just wasn't possible.

* * *

 **THE REVEAL!**

Seto was not having a good day. Incidentally, neither was Joey.

* * *

 _That morning, Kaiba mansion._

Seto had once again stayed up all night looking for new information on Mokuba's whereabouts and gotten nowhere. Atem could only say he was glad it was a Saturday, because Seto was liable to kill anyone who annoyed him. Because of this, and the fact that he was refusing to even think about sleep, Atem suggested he go on an early-morning walk to cool off a bit.

* * *

 _Same time, some bench in the park_

Joey groaned as she slowly woke up and felt the aches from her cramped muscles. For a moment she couldn't remember what happened and tried to bolt upright, instead successfully knocking her head on something hard. She groaned again, this time opening her eyes. As she took in the sight around her, everything slowly came back. Last night, her father had chased her out for waking him up, with the threat that if she came back that night he'd kill her. She doubted he would actually do that, but she was running too fast to think about it at the time. Either way, she went to the park and ended up on a bench (The arm of which being what she hit her head on). She could have gone to Yugi's, but it would have been almost one in the morning by the time she could get there and she didn't want to impose.

Joey shivered as a cold morning breeze slid past. Looking down, she saw her bare arms covered with her true Hikari tattoos. Of course, when she was thrown out of the house for the night it was the one week when Ishizu wasn't there to alter them. Plus, she had been in such a hurry that she forgot her denim jacket. She just hoped her father hadn't done anything to it. That jacket was important!

She looked up at the sky. It was early, the sun just rising, but Yugi's grandfather was probably awake by now. She crossed her arms and leaned forward to try and warm them enough to get rid of the goose bumps. She would go to Yugi's, but she wanted to watch the sunrise first.

When the best of the sunrise was over, Joey stood and started walking in the direction of Yugi's house. She pondered what excuse she should use this time, for this happened more than she would care to admit. So much, that she had two fallback excuses. If she was significantly injured than she would say she had been attacked while on a morning walk and Yugi's was closer than her house. It was entirely plausible, as it had happened before. If it was either just a scratch or she wasn't injured she would just say she forgot to pay the water bill again because her dad was off on business and ask to use the shower.

Of course, she could always just tell the truth. If she ever had to tell someone who didn't already know, she would trust Yugi to it the most. She thought about this almost every time she saw Yugi, and every time she came to the same conclusion. It just didn't feel right. It didn't feel right to tell someone as innocent as Yugi something like that. She shouldn't have to deal with something like this.

* * *

Seto wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, nor how far. He was so lost in his thoughts of Mokuba that he didn't realize that he was even moving anymore. How was Mokuba? When he is finally able to save him, will Mokuba even want to leave? Will he hate Seto? How had the years apart changed his angelic younger brother? He was sure that Mokuba would be different when he was finally found, but he just hoped against hope that it would be a positive change. Seto had definitely changed over the years, and he knew, deep down, that it wasn't necessarily good.

* * *

Both teens were so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they didn't even notice the other as they walked blindly. They probably would have just continued to walk on, encompassed in their thoughts and not noticing each other, had fate not had other plans. Of all of the pathways in the park, Joey and Seto just happened to be on the same one heading opposite directions.

"Nyeh!" Joey yelped as she walked into what felt like a brick wall. She rubbed her head from her position on the ground, where she had fallen, and wondered how she had gotten so distracted as to walk straight into a wall. Except that the wall had grunted. Eyes widening in realization, she lifted her head a bit. Shoes. Dress shoes. Attached to black pants. And a long, flowing coat. Joey felt her heart drop to her toes. She only knew one person who walked around wearing ridiculous things like that.

Slowly, she lifted her head. She expected a dog joke by now, or at least a scoff or a disgusted noise followed by him walking away. When his face did finally come into view, the expected scowl was not there. Instead, he looked just as surprised and dismayed to see her as she was to see him. Which was honestly the first time that had ever happened. Then she realized, he wasn't staring at her face like she was with him. Dread building in her stomach, she followed his eye line... straight to her arms. Her tattoos. Which were her normal, uncovered tattoos.

* * *

(Same thing, Kaiba limited)

Seto scowled down at whoever had run into him, redoubling the expression when he realized that person was, in fact, Joey Wheeler. Of course the one person he ran into on his walk was the person he wanted to see almost less than Gozobura himself. Sure, making Joey angry was good for a laugh most of the time, but he wasn't in the mood for her insults right now. Just as he was about to scowl and walk away, as he didn't want to talk _at all_ , she lifted her arm to rub her head, which unknowingly drew his attention to it. And the green tattoos decorating it.

She had been hiding them from him and the others since they found out she was a Hikari, and even though he didn't want to talk right now his curiosity took over and he couldn't help but see why it mattered so much. A moment later, he wished he hadn't. His whole brain flat lined. Her left arm's tattoo matched his right. A pit was felt in his midsection, but he ignored it and looked at her right arm which was still propping her upright. A match.

For the first time in a very long while, Seto wished he wasn't right.

Slowly but surely, they locked eyes. Both of them searched the other's for any recognition, any knowledge of the significance of the tattoos. Neither of them saw any signs of the other knowing, and if they did they denied them as panicked hallucination.

Then, Joey scrambled up and both Seto and her headed opposite directions; Joey at a run and Seto at a brisk walk. Because Seto Kaiba never ran.

* * *

 _OHMYGOSHHESAWMYTATTOOSHE'SGONNAHAVEMEMURDERED!_

 _No, no, if he had seen 'em he would have said something... demanded why I stole his tattoos? No, he didn't recognize 'em. That's da only answer. I mean, how many people can match tattoos on sight? What are da odds dat he's one of them? Pretty low? Yeah, there's gotta be a mathematical thinga-ma-hoo for dis. No way he recognized 'em..._

* * *

 _There is no possible way that this scenario would make sense. I must have fallen asleep on the park bench and had a nightmare._

* * *

That Monday, Joey and Seto arrived in math class at almost the exact same time. They stared at each other in silence for a few moments before hurrying off to opposite sides of the room without a word.

Meanwhile, the other main Hikaris and Yamis rolled their eyes.

It was about time Seto found out.

* * *

Factoid #28: The Kaiba brothers obviously have some skewed ideas about each other; Mokuba was no more angelic than, say, a pampered house cat.


	28. Drabbles the Seventh

**Drabbles the seventh**

 **Guest:** They _will_ find Mokuba… _eventually._ *Dark chuckles* And Yugi will be able to solve the puzzle… once again, _eventually_. Remember, cannon says it took years. It won't be _that_ long though.

* * *

 **Make Them Speak**

Joey and Kaiba hadn't fought for a week. Usually, two people not fighting for a week would be a good thing. And at first, the others thought it was. They thought the two needed some time to come to terms with their feelings, and this was their way of doing it.

But a week into it with absolutely no contact, _at all,_ it was time for an intervention. After school, Atem would talk to Seto and Yugi would talk to Joey and they would get somewhere.

That was the plan anyway.

* * *

"Hey, Joey..." Yugi hesitated as she and Joey walked towards her car to head home. She was unsure of how to broach the subject of Kaiba. Joey grinned down at her, completely normal. That's what she had been like all week; completely normal except for when Kaiba was around. Yugi decided to just jump right in. "What's going on with you and Kaiba?"

Joey immediately stopped walking, face clearly reflecting her inner turmoil. "Kaiba?! Nothin's goin' on between me and him!"

"Joey," Yugi stopped and faced her friend with a cautious expression, "you two haven't talked, much less fought, in a week. Something's up."

"It's nothin', Yuug. Just some weird stuff happenin', it'll all be back ta normal in a bit." Joey waved her off, hoping against hope that what she had just told Yugi would actually happen.

"It's alright to be scared, you know. When Atem found out about our tattoos matching," Yugi took the suspiciously blank look on Joey's face as a sign that she was actually listening for once in her life, "it was really weird for a while, but then we actually started talking and-" Joey suddenly snapped out of her daze.

"Atem?" She asked, eyes widening. "Wait, are you two goin' out?!" Yugi had not wanted this conversation to turn like that.

"N-not officially..." She stuttered out, fearing what Joey would do to the short Yami, especially when her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and then ran off without another word.

It was her job to threaten any and all boyfriends/soulmates of their little group, even though none had any before, and she wasn't going to let Atem be an exception! He may be nice for a Yami, but he was still a Yami after all.

* * *

"Where is the car?" Seto asked through clenched teeth when he and Atem made it outside to where the limo usually picked them up. He had been planning to jump in, shut the door, and order the driver off without his cousin, but it seemed that plan was down the drain. Atem had been trying to get him to talk about Joey the whole way over. It didn't work, but it was definitely irritating. _Why_ couldn't Atem just accept that he felt nothing but irritation and possibly hate for the stupid blond mutt?

Heck, why couldn't he?

Because, as much as he denied it, his mind had the two tattoos etched over and over in his head and there was no way he could have mistaken them. And the way Joey had been acting around him, he knew that even she knew what was up. If she didn't, she would have argued with him like normal, not scampered off like a scared puppy on Monday.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Seto turned his murderous eyes onto Atem, who sounded much too innocent. "It won't be here for another thirty minutes."

Before Atem could start poking and prodding again, as that was no doubt the reason he had told the car to come late, Seto cast around for Bakura or Marik to distract his morally-sensitive cousin. They were nowhere to be seen. Those traitors had known exactly what Atem was planning.

"Fine. Let's get this over with," Seto snarled, spinning to face the smaller man. "I don't care about the Mutt. I have no feelings for her. I have no idea where you get these ridiculous ideas, but they are entirely false and-" Suddenly there was a shout from a little ways behind him, interrupting his denial-inducing rant (for both Atem and himself) and the widening of Atem's eyes made him pause.

That pause was long enough for Joey to fly straight past, latch onto Atem's arm, drag him away several feet, and then start yelling so loud that it didn't make a difference.

Seeing the Mutt like that- yelling out threats, complaining about never being told anything- knocked him out of denial.

Why would he need to deny that he was in love with Wheeler? Why would he need to pretend that he didn't know the tattoos matched?

The answer was simple. He didn't need to deny anything because there was nothing to deny.

Joey had knocked him out of denial and straight into delusion.

"I'm guessing the plan didn't work?" Malik asked while the six friends watched Kaiba and Joey arguing as if they hadn't been completely avoiding all contact just the previous day.

* * *

 **And so it begins**

"Who's dis Mokuba?" Joey asked one day after school, directing the question at the three Yamis. She had heard the name at least five times since they had begun to spend more time with said boys. Honestly, she wouldn't have even been curious had it not been the _way_ the word was said. It was whispered, or muttered in private conversations that suddenly cut off when the participants realized they were being listened to.

"Seto's little brother," Atem offered in explanation after a moment of silence.

"He has a brother? I haven't seen him," Yugi asked in surprise.

"Well he was taken away years ago, so I'd be surprised if you had." Bakura remarked with a smirk. He knew exactly what type of effect that would have on the Hikaris, and he enjoyed destroying fragile psyches.

 _Just like my little sister..._

 ** _STAB_** _._ A metaphorical knife drove itself straight through Joey's heart.

"How old is he?" Yugi asked, eyes wide.

"He'd be ten now." Atem answered.

 ** _TWIST._**

"And it was Gozobura Kaiba, most powerful man in the world and his adoptive father that took him," Malik chipped in. The same person who took Ryo's father. Joey saw Ryo blink away tears.

 _Like Serenity was taken by our mother..._

 ** _DRAG._**

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Yugi asked immediately.

"We could use all the help we can get," Atem said grimly.

"I'll help too," Ryo spoke up.

"I will also," Malik agreed. They all turned and stared at Joey in expectation. She looked to almost be in actual physical pain. They all knew it was at the prospect of actually helping Seto.

But there was a little ten year old boy in trouble, and everyone expected her to help.

 ** _STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB._**

 _This kid sounds so much like Serenity... NO! Nonononono, I'm not making connections with Kaiba, we're nothing alike and neither are our siblings! He's probably a brat used to getting whatever he wants!_

She turned away from them sulkily, stuffing her hands deep into her pockets and slouching over.

"How long's it been since Kaiba saw him?" She finally asked, after a moment of gritting her teeth. As much to her surprise as everyone else, it was Kaiba's cold voice who answered.

"Three years, 360 days, 18 hours."

Almost four years. He was six when that high-and-mighty Gozobura guy kidnapped him. Joey hadn't seen Serenity face-to-face in four years. She was taken away by Joey's mother when she was six.

 ** _MASSIVE MORALITY KO!_**

The others looked on, mildly confused and slightly disturbed, as Joey started falling backwards almost comically in slow-motion. Almost before they could even register the strange occurrence, she was back to skulking. She slowly turned, glaring heatedly at all of them.

"Fine, I'll help ya find da kid, but I ain't doin' it ta help rich-boy! Just 'cuz he's a kid!" She added the last part in a defensive yell, prompting the others to stare at her strangely. She turned cherry red. "I need ta get home. Bye." She hurried off on the opposite direction.

"Joey, the apartment's that way!" Ryo giggled at her friend's antics.

"I KNEW DAT!"

* * *

"What, exactly, do you think that _stupid mutt_ and the rest of the geek squad can do to help Mokuba?" Seto demanded of Atem when they were alone in his room later that day.

"Seto," Atem sighed, "it is unfair of you to call Joey names like that; you hardly even know her. Besides, when it actually comes time to rescue Mokuba her experience may come in handy."

"What experience?" Seto asked, scoffing. Atem gave him a disappointed look.

"Exactly." He said, driving in his point about how Seto didn't actually know anything about Joey. Then, much to Seto's immense annoyance, he turned and left without so much as an explanation. Immediately, he pulled out his laptop and searched for Joey's profile on the database.

Nothing.

Not nothing like her record was spotless, nothing as in _she didn't even_ _have a profile._

Usually, he would have taken into account that he was her soul mate and therefore (since all profiles had their tattoos) Gozobura didn't want him to know about her. However, though his subconscious offered up that idea, he was still in denial and therefore refused to even think about it. In fact, when he looked up Wheeler the only profiles that appeared were a girl named Serenity, age 14, one named Rin, age 40, and a man named Jacob. They were all a family, though Rin and Jacob (weirdly normal next to the two woman's names) had split up about eight years ago. The really strange thing is that all three profiles mentioned a Joey Wheeler, daughter/sister, which Kaiba still thought was a stupid name for someone to name their _Hikari daughter_. So he couldn't even convince himself that she was smart enough to change her name and have them not figure it out.

Scowling in annoyance as he read up on what was known of the three, there wasn't very much that would interest him; Jacob was practically a beggar after all and people in the upper class didn't really care much for them or their lives, and Rin hadn't had contact with anyone that may have remotely known Joey for almost ten years. He moved to the profiles of the gang members that he could remember (which was all of them that he saw) and found them infuriatingly low on information as well. The only interesting part was there was a time, consistent on all of their records, where the crimes they had committed dropped to almost zero. He found this strange, but ignored it because it had no relevance to his search. Every single one of their profiles mentioned a Josephine Wheeler (perhaps Joey's full name?), but as an unwilling accomplice or even victim of the gang. Which was weird, because Joey was in no way a victim and there wasn't enough chocolate in the world to get her to do something that she didn't want to.

He made a mental note to order an expansion on all of their files; he was sure he could manipulate Gozobura into believing it a good idea. Which it was. It was actually rather puzzling that Gozobura hadn't done it already, being a paranoid control freak and all, but he was also very arrogant and believed those that low on the food chain could not harm him.

Realizing he wouldn't get much information from this type of people, he decided to try the Mutt's friends, as they seemed a bit better off than her. The search for Yugi's file also came up blank. There was a Solomon, age 75, Yugi's grandfather, and her two parents. Pretty much the same thing happened with all of them. None of their files would show up, but there were several files that mentioned each of their names.

Scowling in annoyance, Seto closed the laptop a bit harder than strictly necessary. What had Atem discovered about the mutt that was so helpful?

What he didn't know, is that Atem had made the whole thing up just to prove his point.

* * *

Factoid #29: I'm sure you've noticed that everyone thinks that Joey's mom is a stuck-up wench that hates Joey. Well here's the thing: the only two people who have actually met her are Joey and her dad. Joey was eight when she last saw her mother, and that was when said woman took her little sister away, so her little eight-year-old mind basically turned her mother into the bad guy for everything. Joey's dad is always drunk, so he can't really set that straight, and it doesn't help Joey's perception of the woman that she left her alone with a known alcoholic gambler with no job. Now, is Joey's mom _actually_ like this in this story, or is this really the case of unreliable narrators? You'll just have to wait and see.


	29. Moving Out

Over the next couple weeks, all the Hikaris really did to help was look at some pictures that Atem brought them to see if they had any idea where the background was. They had a list of possible places, but the landscape was hardly ever seen and if it was it was usually either blurry or just grass and such. Joey, who had at first regarded the idea with utmost resentment, became possibly close to as determined as Kaiba; though not quite. The others were happy to help, but it seemed that any time Joey was shown a picture of the kid her determination redoubled.

Soon enough, there _was_ something else they could do.

* * *

Gozobura had been suspicious about how close they were to finding Mokuba for some time, and over the last week Seto and the others all noted the increase in bugs, surprise sweeps, and idiots rummaging through their rooms while they were gone. Sooner or later they were actually going to find something.

It wasn't safe to stay in the mansion anymore.

* * *

"So where would we go?" Bakura asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's not like Marik and I can really be undetected with these things on our ankles." He pulled up his pant leg and wiggled his foot to prove his point.

"I'll take care of that," Seto dismissed easily. "But we can't rent out an apartment, nor can we go anywhere that people could recognize us."

"Well, there goes this universe," Marik scoffed.

"You forget," Atem spoke up with a smirk, "we already have four allies that have extensive experience with disguises."

"Tell me you're not suggesting…"

* * *

"Some of you could probably stay at my house…" Yugi said hesitantly, when the Yamis had pulled the Hikaris aside the next day and explained their plan. Well, half of it.

"I can't. I'm sorry, but my mom wouldn't allow it," Ryo said, frowning.

"Me neither. We have enough trouble with just me, my sister, and my brother," Malik stated. At that, everyone turned and looked at Joey. Her eyes widened and she laughed shakily.

"Me? Nah, no room. Little apartment, it's really dirty. And I wouldn't let a Yami in there for anythin'!" She tacked on the last excuse when she saw that they were all looking at her strangely. They exchanged looks (was Joey looking a bit shifty to anyone else?) before shrugging it off and continuing.

"My grandfather's out on a dig and won't be back for a week at least, so you can all stay over," Yugi smiled. Ryo and Malik nodded in agreement, but Joey just about had an aneurysm. Defenseless little Yugi alone in her house with not one, not two, but _four_ Yamis?

Not on her watch.

After a little bit of shouting and a lot of declarations (no one quite remembered any of them, it was all a bit of a blur) it was somehow decided that they would all be staying at Yugi's house for the whole time the Yamis would stay there.

"Now that that's settled…" Malik stated, raising an eyebrow at her triumphant-looking blond friend, "What are you going to do about actually hiding? Are you planning to stay indoors all the time? Gozobura is certain to find out eventually if you do; someone is bound to see you."

"I think it's about time you tell us how you're able to disguise yourselves so well."

* * *

Before they went anywhere near the Hikari's houses, Seto thought it best to get rid of the tracking devices. Bakura almost kicked him in the face when, with infuriating ease, Kaiba just slipped them both off and the two captives realized he could have done that at any time since they had been captured. Ignoring their anger rather effectively, Seto attached the trackers to a train that was about to leave before heading back towards their new residence.

* * *

When this idea was conceived, Seto Kaiba did not expect to be turned into a girl. Nor a Hikari. He, along with Bakura, was pissed off. And the mutt laughing her head off in the corner wasn't helping anything.

"You'll also have to change names in order to stay hidden," Ishizu told the Yamis.

"Oh! Oh! Hope!" Joey cackled from her place on the floor. "No, I got it! Kaiba could be Charity!" At this point, even Atem looked just about ready to take Joey's head off. So Ishizu spoke up and saved the day, in her normal way.

"You four will also have to remain disguised, which means you will actually have to change your names as well. It would be best to act as you look also."

"What?!" Joey squawked indignantly, immediately ceasing in her laughter. She was ignored.

"It makes sense." Malik nodded. "We live here, after all. What would happen if we just suddenly changed genders?"

"Someone would definitely notice," agreed Yugi.

"But Ishizu!" Joey whined, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. She could finally go around saying her name was Joey without getting weird looks and raised eyebrows, and now she wasn't allowed? That's just not fair!

Again, she was ignored.

After dropping _that_ nice little package, Ishizu exited the house and left the others to their own devices.

In about an hour (after many, many rejected suggestions and several near-death experiences for Joey) they finally had it sorted out.

Joey would be Katsuya Jounouchi, from the male version of her middle name and what she would have been named had she been a boy. Malik, Ryo, and Yugi would keep their last names and be called Marik, Bakura, and Atem respectively (there was no way anyone could convince Joey to go by Seto, and even if she wanted to he would have vetoed it). It would be easily explained as brothers of the Hikaris, and no one would question a Yami's name. Atem would go by Alana, Marik would be Nora (he wanted to be Aphrodite, but that was shot down before he even finished saying it), Bakura was given the name Belle because he refused to choose for himself, and Seto had (very grudgingly) chosen Katherine.

* * *

Factoid #30: I've mentioned a few times that Joey seems to slip in and out of her accent. This is because she didn't initially speak like that- neither her parents or Serenity have the Brooklyn lilt. It was something she picked up in the gang, because she was the only girl _and_ a Hikari she had to be as terrifying as possible; the accent made her sound more threatening, and it just stuck.


	30. Disastrous Attempts at Hikari-ization

AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

* * *

After picking names came the hard part: acting like what they were not. Joey was set. The other Hikaris were nervous, but thought they could pull it off. Bakura flat-out refused to act like a weak little Hikari, Kaiba was just pissed, Atem was trying his best (with miserable results due to his regal air), and Marik was overdoing it to the point of everyone wanting to strangle him. But not the Hikari part, the girl part. He apparently thought that all girls were airheaded ditz who wandered through life wondering what dress to wear and whether their mascara went with their eyeliner. _Joey didn't even know what the difference was._

"No," Bakura stated again, even as Ryo (the unlucky soul who lost the six-way rock paper scissors tournament) tried to convince him it was for a good cause and it was necessary for their safety. He didn't care all that much.

"Marik, stop," Malik ground out between clenched teeth from across the room.

"But why?" Marik replied in a high falsetto as he twirled around in a dress he got from heaven-knows-where. "I am _pretty_ , oh so _pretty_ , I am _pretty_ and _witty_ and _gay!_ " He sung horribly in his falsetto.

"Yeah, I bet you are," Malik grumbled as the boy did his best attempt at a giggle. He apparently did not get that Malik had just called him gay, and not the "happy" gay like in the song. That, or he didn't care.

"Whateva, Kitten," Joey smirked, pleased that she had a demeaning name for Kaiba that counteracted the one he had for her. She didn't realize the irony in the name, since Serenity would often call her Kat when they were little.

"Shut up, stupid mutt." Much to Kaiba's satisfaction, Joey immediately lost her cool and started shouting.

"You're doing really well," Yugi assured Atem when he lamented never being able to pull this off.

"Really?" He asked skeptically.

"Well, um, compared to everyone else…" Atem looked around at Bakura, refusing to be a Hikari for even a moment, Marik, still twirling like an idiot, and Seto, who was arguing with Joey. None of them were very Hikari-like at all. Atem's head dropped with a groan. That was _not_ encouraging.

* * *

Though their Hikari lessons had been just about as successful as Joey trying to beat Kaiba, the eight semi-friends decided to go out for a break at the local burger shop. Bakura wondered what it was with these Hikaris and burgers; that was the only thing he had ever seen them eat in a diner or restaurant. Not that he was complaining, he loved hamburgers, but weren't all Hikaris supposed to be… you know… vegetarian or something?

They ran into their first problem on the way there, when Kaiba forgot he was supposed to be a Hikari. He spoke up when a Yami guy cut in front of them.

The Yami, who Joey knew was named Michael, just laughed when he saw who had spoken up. Joey smirked. She was positively gleeful that Kaiba was being told off, and got a savage glee from the thought that now _Kaiba_ knew what it was like to be lowest on the food chain. Also, Michael was one of the main Yamis who hated her, so she kind of wanted him to get a smack down from Kaiba. All in all, she was perfectly content with sitting back and watching it fly. That is, until Michael took it a little too far.

"You're just as bad as that Joey Wheeler chick!" He laughed when Kaiba didn't back down. Before anyone could stop her, Joey had lunged forward and grabbed the guy's collar.

"The name's Jou, and I just so happen ta be dat chick's brotha. An' if I eva catch ya sayin' anythin' like dat again," Joey leaned towards the terrified boy, raising her arm and making sure that he could see her red tattoos, "ya gonna have bigga problems den my sista." Michael nodded emphatically before running off with his friends. Joey grinned. "Man, I've wanted ta do dat for foreva!"

The other Hikaris sweat dropped at her gusto in menacing people.

"Um, let's just eat and go back…" Yugi suggested.

"Yeah, we had enough trouble with just Joey. Now we have four of them." Malik added, ignoring their indignant looks.

* * *

After about two more hours of trying, and failing, to bend the Yami's behavior, they decided to call in the reinforcements.

"This is never going to work," Ryo sighed in despair. "I don't know how to teach a Yami to be a Hikari."

"I don't think any of us do," Malik agreed reluctantly, "and I don't even know anyone who could help."

"Me neither," Yugi admitted.

"Wait a minute! I know someone!" Joey suddenly exclaimed, pulling out her phone. She started flipping through the contacts. "V-V-V… Aha! I knew I still had it!" By this time, even the Yamis were looking at her, wondering who she could be calling, but she didn't notice. "Hey, Mai, ya know how ya said I could call ya fa help? Well I got dis problem…"

When her phone call was done, Joey looked very pleased with herself.

"…You have the teacher's number?" Marik asked with a smirk that showed it was not an innocent question.

"Well, yeah," then Joey realized what was being implied and turned fire truck red. "Dat's not it! I helped her out a couple a' years ago, so she recognized me at school!" It hadn't been too long after she got out of the gang that she stumbled across Mai Valentine in a not-so-desirable position with a few people she was certain no one would want to be alone with, so she stepped in and helped. She had all but forgotten about the encounter until a couple of weeks into the school year when Mai had confronted her about not being who, or rather what, she said she was.

Although, Mai hadn't exactly been expecting to be called for this particular situation.

* * *

"Mister Kaiba, Sir!" A man dressed in business attire burst through the door to Gozobura Kaiba's personal office. His tie was flopped back over one shoulder, shirt half untucked, jacket hanging precariously onto his left shoulder, and hair a mess. It was obvious he'd been running quite a way.

Gozobura merely raised an eyebrow, stopping the frantic man in his tracks. After taking a moment to straighten himself out (the great Gozobura Kaiba would not acknowledge any employee who looked like they didn't work for him), the man took a deep breath and continued more calmly.

"Sir, we've found the tracking bracelets, but they weren't attached to the escapees. We don't know where they are or when they got the trackers off," he reported, doing his best to not allow his breathing to become heavy after his sprint to the office. He was already delivering bad news; no need to give the practical ruler of the world another reason to fire him, or worse.

To the man's surprise and immeasurable terror, the oldest living Kaiba smirked.

He was _so_ going to die. In three… two… one…

Well, he wasn't dead. But the Kaiba now looked even _more_ amused. Perhaps he should suggest something…?

"Shall we send out a notice and retrieval groups?" He asked, voice now meek in the face of his sadistic boss' amusement.

The terrifying man opened his mouth, he flinched in preparation for a verbal lashing, and… Oh heck, was that _laughter?!_

"Why?" Gozobura asked after his own laughter had ceased to fill every corner of the large room, like some echoing death march. "There's no need to give the public a reason to believe rebellion is possible, and I already know _exactly_ where they're going."

"You… do?" The nameless suit asked, unsure as to if he should really be talking or not.

"Of course," Gozobura chuckled darkly, "after all, they've been looking for him for years."

* * *

Factoid #31: This one's a long one:

Joey and Kaiba kind of freak each other out with their different fighting styles for a few reasons.  
One: Joey is a street fighter, not a martial artist like Kaiba. This means Joey's strategy consists of "hit 'em till they stop moving!" Leading Kaiba to question her mental stability. Similarly, Kaiba is trained in martial arts so when he judo-flips Joey like its nothing or something like that Joey simply can't comprehend how the beanpole tossed her.  
Two: Joey's method consists of menacing thoroughly then only attacking only if the person being menaced doesn't run away. Kaiba just glares icily and then performs a strictly calculated move that send his opponent flying and such. This means that when Joey tries to menace Kaiba as her first step, Kaiba skips straight to self defense which makes a lot of their interactions more violent than needed. Plus this makes Joey question his intelligence because she _obviously_ wasn't going to hurt him! By the way, this means that Joey doesn't always throw the first punch. Technically.


	31. How to be a Hikari

AN: Just a reminder about **Undercover: the comic version.** It's illustrated by **ThatArtistWithAPen** on deviantart, and so far absolutely beautiful! It also looks like it will be getting more frequent updates from now on!

* * *

 **How to be a Hikari: by Mai Valentine and Joey Wheeler**

Mai grinned gleefully as Joey hung up the phone. How many times in her lifetime would she be asked to destroy Yami pride as a _favor_ to them? She was gonna get dresses, and teach them to walk in high heels, and apply makeup. And they would sit there like good little boys... _or else_. She'd threaten them with Joey if it came to that.

And, speaking of, with any luck, she would be able to get Joey in a dress too. A red one, with black high heels. She had been trying to get the other blond to go shopping with her several times and it had never worked. But this time, she was going to be backed by all Joey's friends and four Yamis that would be pissed at her for calling Mai in. Yup, there was no way she could escape. Though, come to think of it, Joey would probably need the most work in heels.

But that didn't matter. She had all types and sizes of high heels, tons of dresses, and her whole make-up kit (all 80 pounds) in her car and ready to go. What's the point of getting rich from dueling if you don't spend it on a Ferrari and a shoe collection?

Just half an hour later, she arrived at the address Joey gave her (despite the fact it should have taken at least ten more minutes. Being famous had its perks).

Ignoring the notion that she was in the wrong place (who lives in a game shop?) she walked confidently up to the door and inside. It was a shop after all. It would be weird to knock. Voices that had been coming from the back room immediately ceased at the tinkle of the storefront bell, and Joey's eye peeked around the corner looking apprehensive. She visibly relaxed when she saw that it was Mai, smiling and stepping into the store.

"Mai! I didn't think ya'd be here so fast!" She laughed. "They're in da back ova here."

"Just a minute Joey, could you be a dear and unpack my car while I meet them? I brought some things to help me."

"Ah, yeah, okay," she said, slightly puzzled as she walked outside and spotted the red car. "NYEH?!"

Mai smirked. She didn't even have to look to know that Joey had just discovered her cargo.

"Hey," she greeted as she walked into the room where the others were supposedly waiting. The three girly-boys and four girls inside looked back at her. She already knew the situation with the gender-flip (she had made Joey tell her everything within the first month, under oath not to let anyone else know), and didn't entirely blame the two girls that were probably actually boys that were glaring at her, or the one that was looking just plain annoyed. The other was a bit disturbing, taking the whole thing a bit too far, but she liked his attitude. The other three were Yugi Moto, Malik Ishtar, and Ryo Tozoro who were students of hers. Also girls, based on her deductions, though Joey had refused to confirm or deny.

"No wonder Joey needed help, you don't look too into this," Mai remarked, ignoring the scoffs that she got from that comment. Then she smirked, the smirk that every single one of her students feared, even if almost none would admit it. Before, with Joey, there was a chance that they could give up. But now that Mai was here there was no backing out, no matter what.

 **Lesson one: Keep your traps shut you entitled brats.**

"First lesson on being a Hikari," Mai announced as Joey struggled her way into the room under the stacks of dresses and skirts. "No, actually, first rule of being a man. Are you four just going to sit here while Joey struggles with those? You're disgraceful." They looked rather affronted at that, at least Atem did.

"Why should we care?" Marik scoffed, swinging his feet up onto the table as Joey walked back out to the still very full car. He and the others instantly regretted it when Mai loomed over them.

"Hikaris don't talk back!" Marik and Bakura couldn't get out fast enough, but Atem followed at a more reasonable pace. Seto remained for another minute before he leisurely exited the building, showing that he was not afraid of anyone. Even scary blond Phys. Ed. teachers.

 **Lesson two: Hikaris don't hurt people, idiots.**

They were bringing in the last of the shoes, which were now overflowing into the main shop, when Joey suddenly found herself on the ground. Bakura and Marik were laughing as she tried to figure out what happened.

Atem looked at them disapprovingly, having seen the whole thing. Bakura had tripped Joey as she literally threw the last batch of shoes on the ground. Kaiba had no more reaction than a scoff and a "stupid mutt" too quiet for Joey to hear. Malik, Yugi, and Ryo rushed forward to help and ask if Joey was okay.

Unfortunately for everyone, Mai had also seen.

"You three, stop right there!" Malik, Yugi, and Ryo did as told as Mai pointed at them. "You're supposed to be Yamis, laugh at her! Atem, nice try, but look more concerned than disapproving." She then turned and wacked Bakura upside the head. "You're supposed to be a Hikari, Idiot! Hikaris don't hurt people!" Marik laughed at Bakura's misfortune and was saved by a hit from Mai only through a hit from Joey, who had recovered and was scowling at the others.

"Hikaris don't laugh at people who're hurt eitha!" She imparted. Seto once more scoffed silently, finding it ironic that Mai and Joey, probably the last people to ever act Hikari-like, were trying to teach them.

"Hey! Why'd you get to hit me then?" Marik scowled right back.

"'Cuz I'm a Yami," Joey grinned, finding great joy in the fact. Marik, still in his dress, lunged at her, but Mai hit him to the floor with a simple "no."

 **Lesson three: Just agree to what everyone says you argumentative Yamis.**

"Now that everything's inside, it's time for a lesson." Mai smirked, probably happier at their horrified faces than the idea of teaching.

Upon finishing lugging in items, Joey had collapsed on the couch and refused to participate any farther. Mai thought this a perfectly fine idea seeing as Joey wasn't the one who needed to act like a Hikari. The boys were not so lucky, but the certainty of horrible failure didn't stop them from trying.

"No," Bakura said simply, taking a seat firmly on Joey's stomach.

"Get offa me ya stupid Yami!" Joey seethed as she tried to shove said Yami onto the ground. He was surprisingly resilient.

"No." It was shaping up to be quite the battle, catching the attention of the others, but just as it started getting interesting (Joey had managed to shove Bakura off the couch, but he pulled her with him which resulted in a wrestling match) Mai stepped in.

"Lesson two!" She said, whacking the white-haired boy as if to pound the lesson fully in. "And now lesson three: don't say no to Yamis. In fact, don't say no to anyone. That in mind, I say it's time for a lesson, you say…"

"Yes Ma'am." Marik said, saluting snippily as he and Bakura seated themselves on the couch with the other two.

"Good."

 **Lesson four: Yes, you** ** _have_** **to wear dresses.**

Having sufficiently pounded lessons 1-3 into the Yami's heads, to the point that they were doing them in word if not in spirit, Mai decided to move on.

"Well boys, it's time for your fourth lesson." Seeing the groans that were about to escape their lips, she fixed them all with a deadly glare and ignored Joey's sniggers in the background. In response to the glare, Atem waited attentively for the lesson, Kaiba stared coldly (but made no comment), Bakura gave her that smile that he saw on Ryo sometimes that meant she wanted to hurt you (everyone could tell what _he_ meant though), and Marik ( _still_ in his gold dress) smiled and fluttered his eyelashes. It didn't work very well, though, so he looked like he had dirt or something in his eyes.

They had made progress.

"Marik, you are excused. For now." She smirked at the surprised looks her four current students were giving her. " _He_ is already done with the lesson… Wearing a dress." Their (fairly well hidden) horrified looks were enough to justify her entertainment. Marik, on the other hand, was grinning like the maniac he is.

"Yay!" He squealed, still in falsetto as he skipped out of the room.

"Someone should keep an eye on him," Malik said, frowning at the door Marik had just left from. Everyone glanced around at each other before settling their eyes on her. "What?...Oh, no way. I'm _not_ babysitting that idiot!" A moment later, she followed said idiot out of the room, grumbling the whole time.

That being taken care of, Mai stepped back and revealed the racks upon racks of dresses and skirts that somehow fit into the back room of the game shop.

"Excuse me, Miss Valentine, but I don't see why we need to wear dresses. Yugi is a Hikari and I have never seen her wear one." Atem stated, but not rudely.

"Ryo either," Bakura sneered.

"I doubt the mutt has ever worn a dress in her life," Kaiba scoffed. Luckily, said Mutt was currently stuffing her face in the kitchen or else there would have been another argument.

"Pick." That simple command was enough to get Atem to sigh and stand up, muttering something like "If it's for Mokuba…" Seto, hearing that, tried to burn the dresses to ash using only his eyes. Needless to say, it didn't work. Atem finally chose a long black skirt and a simple royal purple t-shirt, prompting Seto to finally get up and choose a similar outfit, only with a blue skirt and white shirt. Bakura grudgingly chose a black skirt like Atem's and a white shirt with a fancy black dragon on it after Mai threatened him with a flowery dress.

After they had all changed (simply putting on the skirts over their pants since they were floor-length) Mai lined them up and looked at them critically, calling Marik back in to join the lineup as well.

Marik looked like he was the only one even remotely enjoying this experience, what with the knee-length dress that kind of freaked everyone out because he obviously was _not_ wearing pants underneath. Kaiba and Bakura seemed like they were trying not to kill someone, most likely Joey who was still finding joy in the situation, and even Atem was looking displeased.

Mai looked at them smugly. She didn't know anyone else who could make four Yamis put on dresses.

"You all look absolutely _lovely_."

 **Lesson five: That's mascara, not eye liner,** ** _Joey_** **.**

"Joey could you-"

"Nah, I'm good." Joey yawned, interrupting Mai in the middle of her sentence. She grinned at the glare Mai sent her.

"Fine. Yugi, be a dear and grab that box over there… yeah, that big one." Yugi stared at the box that was almost as big as her, and probably just about as heavy, wondering how on earth she was going to get it.

" _**Cough_ HIKARIS _cough**_ " Mai hinted obviously. Marik scoffed, saying something about chipping his nails, Kaiba just crossed his arms, and Bakura glared. After realizing none of them would help, Atem sighed and went to struggle with the box as well.

In a few minutes, after an overly-hilarious struggle to the center of the room, the box was placed on the floor in between Mai and the couch.

"So what is this, Ms. Valentine?" Malik asked, leaning on the box, because it was big enough for her to do that comfortably.

"Step back," Mai cautioned with a wink, going around to the front of the contraption and unlatching several locks. As she did this the box opened into several compartments. As it opened up further it spread back quickly, managing to hit Joey, who had ignored Mai's suggestion, in the face.

"NYEH!" Hearing Mai's laughter and her bark of "lesson two" when Bakura joined in, Joey was back up in a second, a vein throbbing on her temple. "What was dat for?! What is dis thing?!"

"Is that… Is that all makeup?" Nearly everyone was startled by Ryo's voice, they had forgotten that she was there, but after getting over it they looked and realized that she was completely right. The whole case was filled to the brim, every compartment stuffed, with different types, sizes, and shapes of containers. But every single one of them held makeup of some variety.

Each segment of the box held a different type of makeup it seemed, one with lipstick and lip stain, another with mascara, a third containing blush, etc.

This would not end well.

Mai picked out a thick black cylinder from the section of similar-looking tubes (though some were more rounded or different colors) and held it up.

"Which of you boys knows what this is?"

She was met with two blank stares and two "why do you think I care?" stares.

"How about you, Joey?"

"How should I know? I don't wear makeup!"

"Don't be a spoilsport. Guess!"

"Eh… eyeliner." She glared at the flat look Mai was giving her. "Ya told me ta guess, woman!"

"It's _mascara._ " Malik finally supplied, taking pity on Joey's poor soul.

"Correct. How about this one?" She picked up a squat cylinder with a see-through top. More blank stares.

This was going to take a very long while.

 **Lesson six: No, high heels are not optional.**

A few hours later and it was getting dark, but they had finally succeeded to Mai's satisfaction. They were wearing the minimal makeup that Mai allowed, eye liner with some blush and a bit of lip gloss, but even with just that there was a pile of makeup-remover wipes and emptied containers scattered behind the couch. Enough to know that they did not reach visual perfection in one try. Or 100. Each.

But no matter, because it was finished now!

"It's getting dark. Are we done?" Kaiba ground out, obviously not pleased with the eye liner or the skirt.

"No! There's only one more lesson and you will learn it before you go to sleep. You four may be able to sleep in tomorrow, but the rest of us need to go to school, so learn it fast."

"And this lesson is?" Atem prompted, completely ready for this humiliation to end.

"High heels."

The glint in here eye was enough to make Bakura sweat.

It took another fifteen minutes to get them all in heels. Atem and Marik were trying, and failing, to walk in them, Seto was standing like a pro but if he had tried to move he would fall, and Bakura flat out refused to even stand. To help them figure it out, Mai, Ryo, Yugi, and Malik had also donned high heels, though the only one other than Mai who was any good in them was Malik.

"Come on Joey," Mai pouted, trying once again to get her… friend… into the red heels next to her on the ground.

"Nope," Joey replied with no sympathy, no shame, and no reluctance. There was no way she was gonna put on a pair of high heels, especially with Kaiba in the room, and there was nothing Mai could say to-

"The stupid mutt probably can't even put them on right." Kaiba scoffed. Up until this point he had stayed out of the debate, maybe chipping in now because he was pissy about being in high heels. No matter. If he hadn't talked, Joey would have been perfectly content with taking whatever Mai threw at her and dropping it on the floor with the heels, never to be touched again. But it was different when Kaiba said it. He wasn't playfully teasing her like Mai was, he was daring her. He was daring her to beat him, and she couldn't ignore that.

She immediately sat up and put on the heels, ignoring the sudden silence in the room and the gaping looks as she stood without a stumble and did her best runway-strut across the room. As she walked she made her hips sway more than usual and drove her feet towards the floor with a purpose to get the full model-effect (though it probably would have worked better if she looked like a girl at the time) and when she reached the wall she did an easy 180 and gave everyone now looking at her in stunned silence a fierce and smug look.

"Dat's how ya walk in heels, money-bags." She smirked, walking towards the stairs up to the living part of the building. She didn't want to answer their stupid questions about how she had learned to walk like that and didn't feel like taking the insults she was sure Kaiba would throw her way if she stayed. "I'm goin' ta bed."

.

.

.

"Does anyone know what just happened?" Ryo finally asked a minute later. She was answered by mute head shakes. What exactly _had_ just happened?

Most people probably wouldn't have been surprised to learn that Joey's knowledge was partially due to a dare.

 **Lesson seven: Set them upon the world.**

It was the next morning and the Hikaris plus Mai had gone to school, leaving the Yamis to their own devices. Unsurprisingly, the first thing they did (other than Marik) was ditch the skirts, makeup, and high heels in favor of their normal attire completely ignoring lessons 4, 5, and 6. Lessons 1, 2, and 3 were proven to be a bit shaky when they came to the test as well.

Bakura had been walking around, minding his own business, when it happened. It wasn't his fault, really, because how else did they expect him to react? No self-respecting... anyone would just walk away after that! Atem was at that burger place –Burgerland?– with Kaiba at the time, so he didn't know. Bakura was fine with that, he didn't want a speech. He didn't deserve a speech! It was really Marik that got them mad; he hit the guy, not Bakura. Bakura had been just fine with insulting them, but then Marik had to go and start a fight!

Because... you know... Bakura totally didn't like fighting and violence at all...

He may have joined in gleefully (those boys would never be able to look at a water balloon again), but if they had just left him well enough alone in the first place, it wouldn't have happened! He would admit that maybe bringing that old lady into it stretched a bit far, and it may have been him who did it...

But that's beside the point! It was Marik's fault. That's the point.

And the old lady was gone by the time Atem got back, so he didn't have to know about her. It was just a shame that the stupid Yami boys had stuck around that long. Now they were all going to get an earful.

Atem, for one, was very disappointed, but not surprised, when he was met with the scene Marik and Bakura had caused while he and Seto were gone. It would be best if he could just tell the other Yamis to scram, but the rules that Mai taught them circled in his head and he pushed down his pride. Walking up to them, the leader looking just about ready to lunge at Malik once more, he forced himself to proceed with hesitation and caution.

"Excuse me?" He waited for their glares to focus on him. "I apologize for whatever my friends did to make you angry. Do you think we could forget about it and just walk away?"

Gabriel, the lead Yami, almost took a step back from the Hikari in front of him. She was shorter than him, his friends, and all of the other Hikaris but seemed to have an air of confidence about her despite how quiet she was. She looked his straight in the eye while speaking, and hers seemed to ask "Why aren't you doing what I said yet?"

It was unsettling, to say the least.

But he was a Yami, and no stupid little Hikari could tell him what to do! He raised a fist to punch out the little nuisance, but the calm way she stared straight into his eyes made him pause just long enough for the other one, the one who had stayed out of it until now, to approach.

She was at least six feet tall, and didn't look too happy.

Gabriel was a proud Yami, and he was loathe to think a Hikari (even that stupid Wheeler) could best him. He would fight to the last man standing, and he would insist he won even then.

But right about now seemed a good time for a truce.

* * *

Factoid #32: So, high heels. Joey knows how to walk in them for two reasons: one is a bet she had with Hirutani that she lost (the punishment being having to put on a personal "fashion show" for him because he's a creep), and the other is her mother. Joey always felt she was to tomboyish for her mother's approval, and when she was little she actually cared; she thought being able to rock high heels would make her mom like her more.

And a bonus: that unforgivable thing those Yami boys did to Bakura and Marik was... _flirting_ _._


	32. About Time

**AN: **Allie (guest):**** Nope, Joey's not a model. Is that what you thought her other job was?

 **About Time**

* * *

Bakura had never, not even once, been accused of being patient.

He and Marik had managed to keep themselves occupied in Yugi's house for the past couple of days without causing too much of a disturbance only by exploring the place more thoroughly than any house should ever be examined. By the third day, he could list every hokey game they sold (why Ryo liked those stupid table-top RPGs he would never know) and how to play them, and by the fourth he'd been thrown forcefully out of the two occupied bedrooms. But not before he had gotten quite a few interesting finds.

One such find was a weird button he'd discovered in the bottom of Solomon's sock drawer rolled in a pair of violently orange and fuzzy socks (told you it was a more thorough search than ever there needed to be). He'd stuffed it hurriedly in his pocket when Yugi had entered the room looking scandalized, and proceeded to shove it in the couch cushions when Atem confronted him later. After all, if he'd had stolen merchandise on him when Atem talked to him, the bloodhound-esque teen would have found it in a millisecond, and gotten him in trouble. He probably would've gotten a lecture, and then _another_ lecture from Ryo.

Speaking of Ryo… who did she even think she was, lecturing him? She talked to him like he should take all her opinions into account (the fact that he usually _did_ was totally beside the point), and yet she didn't even know they were soulmates!

Oh yeah, he knew. He had known for a while. He had suspected long before he had proved it, when he realized he didn't react half as volatilely to Ryo's special brand of meekness than he did to nearly all other people who had no backbone. It had been proven when he swiped Ryo's phone during his attempt to teach her to lockpick- he'd looked through her photos until he found one with her tattoo exposed (and decided _not_ to ask about the one in which she had black hair and red eyes), and then compared them. Perfect match.

He'd decided not to mention it. To wait until she figured it out for herself.

But, as aforementioned, Bakura was not the most patient of people. He was also too stubborn to reverse his decision to wait.

How on _earth_ Ryo continued to remain oblivious was completely beyond him. He hardly kept his tattoos covered- he would _purposefully_ roll up his sleeve (yes, just the one, it made it more noticeable) even when wearing long sleeves, he would point with his left arm (which was the one that was branded) and make sure to hold with his arm at her eye level, and when he was sure Ryo was looking at him he would trace the figures with his right hand.

And still, she apparently knew nothing.

* * *

Ryo was not nearly as oblivious as Bakura believed. Yes, she wasn't exactly the most savvy person, and she had a bit of a tendency to not notice some rather obvious things when they pertained to her friends, and, okay, _maybe_ she should have picked up on the whole "soulmates" thing before Bakura practically screamed it at her (with actions, not words, to be fair). But she _had_ figured it out eventually.

The fact that she didn't clue Bakura into this particular epiphany was beside the point.

 _Perhaps I should tell him_ , Ryo reflected a mite guiltily as Bakura once more made a point of flailing his exposed left arm right in front of her face.

It's just that now was most definitely not a good time to get involved with someone. Yes, they all had to focus on pretending to be their opposites, and looking for Mokuba (or, rather, doing whatever Seto said was necessary because he was the only one who could actually actively look). It was most definitely just for that reason alone, not for something else like her being scared or something ridiculous like that…

"Did something happen?" Bakura asked suddenly, pulling Ryo from her musings.

"What?" She looked blankly at him, forcing a polite smile even as her brow furrowed a bit in confusion. The action made Bakura narrow his eyes.

"That's your nervous smile," he stated, pointing accusingly at her mouth, "and you just completely zoned out. What happened?"

Okay, well, maybe she was a bit nervous. Bakura was an arguably psychotic kleptomaniac, after all, not the type of boy a parent wants their daughter to bring home for dinner. Still, Bakura was a good guy… deep, deep down. But still, that was _slight nervousness_ , not being scared. Because she wasn't. Not scared at all. That would be ridiculous, after all. Obviously Bakura wanted her to know (if not he would have gone the Joey-route, not shown off his tattoos), so logically it's not like he would reject her, or laugh at her, or scoff or something…

It was really… communication! Yes, that was why she hadn't brought up the fact that she knew they were soulmates. How does one bring that up in polite conversation? Was she supposed to have made a huge scene when she first figured it out, and then she wouldn't have had to worry like this? Maybe she should pretend she just figured it out?

Because she could do that, because she was not _scared_.

Bakura had been silently watching his Hikari since his initial observation. She wasn't going to tell him, he hadn't expected her to (Ryo was surprisingly willful), but if he guessed right then she would definitely crack. So he watched. And what he saw made his mouth drop open.

"You _know_ , don't you?" He demanded, eerily calm.

Oops. There goes the communication excuse.

"K-know?" Ryo responded, averting her gaze in a vain attempt to stop her face from turning tomato red. Bakura didn't dignify that question with a response, ignoring it entirely.

"How long have you known?" Bakura asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. Ryo heard the unspoken question- _how long have you been letting me make a fool of myself?_

Probably not a question she should exaggerate the time frame of.

"Two days," Ryo admitted, eyes fixed resolutely on the table. She felt as if this were going to be a rather uncomfortable conversation for her.

* * *

"About time they found out," Marik sniggered from where he and Malik were spying on the white-haired duo. Malik gave him a baleful look out of the corner of her eye; he was one to talk about obliviousness. Other than Joey, he was the only one to not know that their whole group consisted of four soul mate pairs. Of course, she wasn't sure she actually _wanted_ him to know. He was insufferable enough _now_ , imagine him knowing that she could never truly hate him.

Deciding not to bring it up, Malik turned her gaze back to Ryo and Bakura just in time to miss Marik turning to look at her in contemplation. Ryo was giving Bakura an embarrassed little smile, which Bakura responded to with a scowl that failed to cover his blush.

"Yeah," she agreed, figuring that agreeing would do no harm. After all, it's not like Marik was trying to tell her something.

* * *

Factoid #33: The black-hair red-eyes picture of Ryo was Joey and Malik's doing. They dressed each other up for Halloween instead of choosing themselves. Ryo was a vampire, Yugi was Dark Magician, Malik was an Egyptian princess, and Joey was a fairy. Pink dress, lacy wings, the whole nine yards. She was _not_ happy, but got over it because they didn't actually go trick-or treating (though Joey and Malik wanted to pretend Yugi was a kid and use her to get candy).


	33. Broken

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying this as much as I am!

 **Broken**

* * *

Joey sighed as she entered her apartment. It had been a long week between school, putting up with those stupid Yamis at Yugi's house, and taking care of her dad without anyone finding out. Not to mention work. They hadn't even managed to figure out exactly where the little twerp Kaiba was.

Seeing her father, once again asleep on the couch, she carefully started her way to the kitchen. A sudden gust of wind from the outside hit the door as it eased closed, swinging it open and smashing it against the opposing wall with a loud crash, along with crushing the hand Joey had tried to stop it with.

Biting viciously down on her lip to stop from crying out, she froze. Her father stirred on the couch but seemed to still almost immediately. Joey released the breath she had been holding in, thankful that her streak of bad luck (that had been going on for at least a month) had finally ended.

Another gust of wind, stronger than the last, blew through again slamming the door on her already bruising hand and this time toppling all of the beer bottles next to Jacob Wheeler with a magnificent clatter.

She didn't even have time to register that he was awake before the half-filled bottle was flung at her head.

"GET OUT!" He roared, drunk and half asleep. Drenched in beer from the bottle that shattered against the door, Joey didn't need to hear what he said next to get her to leave. There was more, there was always more, but she just turned and ran as her father grasped for the nearest thing to throw, which happened to be another bottle.

The projectile flew so close to Joey's ear that she felt the wind, but she just kept running towards the stairs at the end of the landing. She was almost there- almost safe. She would head to Tristan's, even if it took her two hours to walk there; she couldn't show up at Yugi's smelling like a drunk. The stairs were only a few steps away, almost there with no physical injury. That was the first time in a while.

One step more, but she didn't notice the bottle. The second bottle her father had thrown, that soared past her and landed, somehow intact, on the ground. That the wind had then blown to the edge of the staircase, right where Joey stepped next, sending her careening down the flight and straight into the railing on the opposite side, which creaked dangerously as her head smashed into the edge.

Her father was still yelling, probably something about her mother again, but her head was fuzzy and her left arm suddenly felt as if it had been set on a hot iron so she didn't listen.

Everything faded to black.

* * *

Joey groaned as sunlight assaulted her closed eyelids, somehow managing to get through to her brain and wake her up. She tried to roll away from her window, the only thing that could possibly be letting in light at this hour, but a searing pain erupted in her arm instantly jumpstarting her brain as she leapt to her feet.

That only caused more problems as a jolt of pain passed through her right leg before it collapsed, sending her right back onto the ground but luckily not her left arm.

Sadly, that made her think that her luck had gotten a bit better.

Joey glared at her limbs, annoyed. The arm was broken, no doubt, as it would cause horrible pain whenever it was moved. Her leg was only throbbing, so she was inclined to hope it was merely sprained (though it could be a light fracture). Not that it would stop her from walking anywhere. Tristan's was out of the question now, even she wasn't crazy enough to walk more than an hour with a possibly fractured leg, and there was no way she would go to the hospital smelling like beer. Yugi's wouldn't do; first because of her friends not knowing about her home life and second because there was _no way_ she would show up this injured in front of Kaiba.

So where? Where could she go that would heal her and not injure her pride? Well, not injure it too much anyway.

The only way Yugi and the others wouldn't find out is if her bones somehow _magically_ healed… but they could, couldn't they? Ishizu was magic, right? Oh, yes… all she had to do was make her way to the Ishtar's house.

With that in mind, she swung her legs so she could slide down the last flight of stairs without standing and proceeded to do so until she was sitting on the third to last step. Gathering her resolve, she used her one good arm to push herself to her feet. Since she was ready for it this time she was able to remain standing and, sucking it up, started to walk. Her current theory was that if she just ignored it long enough her leg would stop hurting.

It only took about twenty minutes to stagger her way over to Malik's, holding her arm tight to her the whole time as to stop it from being jostled too much. Malik lived the closest to her out of all her friends, thankfully. Ryo's was about an hour and a half walk, Yugi's an hour. Not that they knew; none of them knew she lived in that dump.

She walked up to the door and debated mentally what to do then. Not about asking Ishizu to fix her up, about how she was going to knock on the door. Finally, she used her right arm to ease her left into a normal hanging position and raised it to knock-

Just then, Ishizu, that sadistic jerk, opened the door.

"Hello Josephine. What seems to be the problem?" Ishizu's eyes lingered on Joey's broken arm before roving over her injured leg as well.

Joey was not impressed. No doubt Ishizu had some psychic ability that let her know when someone needed something; she probably could have come straight to where Joey fell within ten minutes of the accident and saved her the agony of walking. But no, she had to do things the hard way.

Joey decided not to say that though, because Ishizu was almost as petty as herself.

"Hey, Ishizu! Buddy, yeah, I took a tumble down da stairs and was wondrin' if ya could work some of ya magic and fix me up?" She asked with a big grin. Ishizu seemed to think it over.

"How injured are you?"

"Uh, a broken arm and a sprained leg?"

"...I know just what to do." Joey's face lit up, but too soon. "Odeon!" Malik's older brother seemed to materialize behind his sister. "She needs to go to the hospital. Could you?" Joey barely had time to think of bolting (and what horrible pain would come from doing so), ignore all the known consequences, and turn before she was scooped up bridal style by the taller man.

"Sorry," he said lightly.

"LEMME GO! ISHIZU, I AIN'T GOIN' TA DA HOSPITAL! PUT ME DOWN YA BIG BRUISER!" Joey thrashed as much as she dared in Odeon's arms while still trying not to move her left arm.

"Joey, I only do glamour charms; they cover the truth, not change it. You need a hospital," Ishizu explained serenely as she started walking down the street. Odeon followed without being told, Joey, not caring why Ishizu was sending her to a hospital, was still trying to escape. Based on Odeon's muscles, it wasn't going to happen any time soon. Just as Joey was about to resign to her fate, Ishizu spoke again. "I'm sure Malik would want to know immediately, so we'll stop at Yugi's house first. You have been missing almost twelve hours."

"ISHIZU!"

* * *

Factoid #34: Joey uses her endless talking as a shield of sorts; once she starts being quiet (not _I'm angry and if I talk I'll regret it_ quiet, but just _nothing to say_ quiet), that's when she's actually getting comfortable with the person. So far that list extends to Yugi, Ryo, Malik, Serenity, Tristan, Solomon, Mai and _maybe_ Atem.

... So, this is actually plot significant. I'm not injuring Joey just because I can.


	34. Hospitals and Badly Kept Secrets

AN: I broke her, I'm sorry, but in these next couple of chapters you're going to get more information about that gold necklace I haven't mentioned in a while!

* * *

Just as Yugi and her friends were about to sit down to a nice home-cooked meal of ham and cheese sandwiches, they heard a huge commotion coming down the street. Wanting to see what on earth was happening, the party ran outside. Awaiting them was a strange sight indeed. Walking calmly towards the game shop was Ishizu, in her normal priestess robe (who needs the twentieth century?), being trailed by Odeon who was carrying... well, they were the source of the racket, whoever it was.

"ISHIZU, WHEN I GET BETTA I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR MO-" Someone clamped their hands over Yugi's ears, preventing her from hearing any more. She looked to see Atem, who was grimacing as he covered her ears, and Bakura who was laughing at the horrified look on Ryo's face. Marik was also laughing and Malik just looked disappointed. Kaiba was wearing his normal long-suffering look that came out whenever Joey was around.

When Atem deemed it safe, he took his hands away so Yugi could hear.

"Shut up, Mutt. Why are you making such a racket?"

"I ain't makin' a racket!" Joey yelled immediately, going off. She was soon ignored as Ishizu spoke up.

"She has a broken arm and an injured leg. We need a car to get her to the hospital."

"I ain't goin' to da hospital!" Again, she was ignored as everyone freaked out. At least, Ryo, Malik, and Yugi did. Atem looked worried, but didn't rush over, while Marik, Bakura, and Seto just looked annoyed or exasperated.

"Are you alright?!"

"What happened?!"

"Do you need anything?!"

"I'm fine; I just fell down da stairs! Get him ta put me down!" Not a lie, exactly.

"You… Fell down the stairs," Bakura said with a blank face.

The great and powerful Joey Wheeler, only Hikari known to stand up to Seto Kaiba (not to mention other countless Yamis), all-around die-hard that could effectively catwalk in _heels_ , had fallen down the stairs.

That was just sad. Probably the most embarrassing thing he'd heard in a while; it would be better if she said she'd been pushed. They would totally have believed it and her reputation would be saved, especially if it was followed by "you should see the other guy".

Luckily for Joey, no one commented on her smelling of beer. They probably assumed that (with her current rotten luck) she crashed into a pile of beer bottles at the bottom of the stairs and was drenched. She still hadn't ceased in struggling or insisting that she was perfectly fine by the time everyone had calmed down enough to agree to go to the hospital. Though Kaiba only under duress.

An unassuming old blue van drove by without anyone noticing.

And then, right when she thought they would drag her away to that horrible, money-sucking building, there was the screech of a car stopping suddenly as the beat up blue van screeched to a halt only a bit past them. And, lo and behold, out came Tristan, who could spot an injured Joey from a mile away.

"Joey?!" He demanded, looking at the struggling blond. He started running forward. "What happened?! Who-" He cut off his question as he got a whiff of beer stench coming off of her and his worry suddenly turned to anger. "I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" He bellowed, turning and stomping back towards the car.

Joey freaked out. Tristan couldn't kill him! First of all, Jacob was a complete jerk, but he was still her dad! Second, he was most definitely in one of his moods, he always was after he chased her out, and he wouldn't hesitate to hurt Tristan. Third, now everyone else was looking at her like they thought she was lying about falling down the stairs!

"TRISTAN, GET BACK HERE! IT WASN'T HIM, I FELL DOWN DA STAIRS YA IDIOT!"

"…Seriously?" Tristan asked, seeming to find it just as embarrassing for Joey as Bakura had. "I knew you were clumsy, Joey, but really? And if that's so, why do you smell like that?" Joey grasped for any explanation. Maybe… close to the truth.

"Dere was a bottle at da top a da stairs an' I didn't see it 'til I tripped on it, landed in da spilled beer at da bottom." She said grudgingly. Tristan glared a while longer, trying to decide if his idiotic best friend was telling the truth or not.

"Fine, but _I'm_ driving you to the hospital."

* * *

Joey scowled as she was carried into the hospital. She would have been perfectly fine walking, but, of course, no one would let her on an injured leg. At least it wasn't Odeon anymore, and she wasn't being carried bridal style. Tristan was giving her a piggyback ride. It was a bit weird though, because her left arm was just dangling there.

"Joey! What happened this time?" Joey leaned to look at the voice that had started as soon as they walked into the hospital. It was a nurse named Maria, who was constantly taking care of her whenever she dropped by and had worked a little with Serenity when she was younger.

"Eh, fell down da stairs. Sorry Maria." Maria, who had been glaring at the blond for getting hurt so much, sighed.

"I accept. I'll talk to the doctors; you know where to go, right?" Joey nodded, directing the others to a room as Maria left. When the doctors came and asked the others to leave the room, Joey held back a sigh of relief. That was way too close for comfort; she didn't want them to find out. But when the doctors turned on her, most of whom she knew by name, her peace evaporated. Now she would have to pay the bill, and the only way to get enough to do that would be to take it out of that account… she couldn't do that!

* * *

"Who were you talking about?" Malik asked Tristan almost immediately after the door shut.

"Uh… Joey," Tristan replied as if it were obvious.

"No; who did you think hurt her?" Atem stepped in with his own question. They all watched as Tristan seemed to freeze up, everything but his eyes which darted around as if looking for some way to escape. He couldn't just _tell_ them! It wasn't their business, and Joey would murder him! And giving that kind of information to Kaiba (yes, he knew about the Yamis staying at Yugi's and the glamour charms; Joey had given him an hour-long rant about how crazy her friends had gone for harboring fugitives), a man who obviously hated Joey to the deepest depths of his soul and would no doubt use it against her was not something anyone with any sense of loyalty would do!

"No one," he stated resolutely. When the others looked like they were going to keep badgering him, he retreated to the waiting chair farthest from them and focused his eyes on Joey's door, refusing to look at them or acknowledge them in any other way.

"What was he talking about?" Atem asked again, now looking at the other Hikaris. Marik and Bakura listened quietly (though they were also having an epic thumb war) and Seto pretended not to care.

"W-well, we… don't know." Ryo stuttered out.

"How could you not?" Seto instantly rebutted.

The three exchanged looks that made the others suspicious before Ryo and Malik's eyes rested on Yugi, who shifted uncomfortably before talking.

"When we met you, we'd only been friends with Joey for about a year," Yugi started hesitantly, "Before, she wasn't very… nice. She doesn't like talking about… anything… personal. Like her past."

"That's why you didn't know where she lived," Marik observed, Bakura taking advantage of this distraction to pull a 'snake in the grass' viciously pin Marik's thumb under his own. The others nodded, despite Marik being a bit busy yelling at Bakura about cheating (a strategy he did not condone unless applied by him)

"Well what _do_ you know?" Seto grouched, beginning to think that Joey's friends were just as useless as the mutt. He just wanted some information for heaven's sake! He _needed_ to know what Atem had found out!

"She used to be a bully," Malik provided.

"She doesn't like bullies," Ryo added, Malik nodding in agreement.

"She doesn't like it when people let others push them around," Malik stated.

"She likes kids, right?" Ryo asked Yugi, who nodded.

"Yeah, she has a babysitting job sometimes. She's also a great cook."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Seto snarled. Again, silence before all three shrugged sheepishly.

* * *

Factoid #35: Joey and the other Hikaris are really good friends, but the type of friends that will be there for each other in a millisecond despite not knowing what's wrong, not the type that tells each other everything without needing to. They know generally what topics to avoid in order to keep the happy-go-lucky air, but aren't sure what it is about the past that made the topic a sore spot. For example, no one asks about Yugi's parents, but none except Yugi know what happened. They all have at least one secret (yes, even Ryo) that they keep even from their best friends.

Next time, we have a flashback to how Joey and Yugi became friends!


	35. Budding Friendship

AN: Here we go! How Joey and the others became friends. FYI, I'm updating this at an obscene our of the morning (a little after midnight, to be more exact) because I won't be able to post it tomorrow (today?) after I go to sleep (mostly because I'd have to do it within the hour I woke up and there's no way my brain's that organized), so I figured I'd just stay up and make it easier on myself. And I was awake anyway, so why not?

* * *

 _Almost two years earlier_

Quiet usually wasn't a word used to describe Joey Wheeler. Loud, rambunctious, mean, condescending, and occasionally pensively silent, yes. Never quiet.

That's why it was so strange when Tristan moved away, not that anyone at her school knew that's what had happened or even that she had any friends to begin with.

She just didn't know what to do. Tristan had been the only person who ever really liked her, other than Serenity, who she wasn't allowed to even talk to. That included herself. She didn't like herself, and when no one was around anymore to tell her she was a good kid and that she needed to live up to her potential… well, what was the point? Tristan had moved, and he was the only _true_ friend she ever had. He had been the one to get her out of the gang, he tried to get her back in school, he even dealt with her constant bad attitude. It had been improving, too.

And then she had been told about Serenity's blindness getting worse.

During her week of silence (for which the students and teachers alike were grateful) a couple Hikaris almost approached her, but always chickened out and avoided her afterwards. After she got over her shock, however, with no Tristan to hold it back, her anger returned tenfold and she started terrorizing the students even worse than before.

One of her main targets was a kid named Yugi Moto. For some reason, she had never liked Yugi. She supposed it had something to do with how Yugi never put up a fight, only occasionally yelling. She was tiny too. All Joey was trying to do was improve these _stupid Hikaris_ ; they needed to be able to stand up for themselves. They needed to stop being such _wimps._ They made her _sick_. All they had to do was hit her, not even very hard, and she would leave them alone.

Not even one of them had done it.

Stupid.

This was her train of thought as she walked out of school a couple of weeks later, banishing any thoughts about how Tristan would feel about her doing this. She didn't even notice the Yamis standing at the front gate, but they noticed her. It wasn't easy to miss her; she stood about a head taller than almost all the others, and no one was walking within ten feet of her. The Yamis didn't have to say anything as they headed towards her; their sleeves were rolled up as to reveal their tattoos and the Hikaris parted without a fuss. Joey only noticed them when they stood almost directly in front of her, and looked at them in utmost contempt.

Hirutani, Kahn, and Richard were the only ones there, but they were also the ones closest to her level, with Hirutani surpassing it. As soon as the other Hikaris saw the four staring off, they abandoned all pretenses and ran, leaving the schoolyard completely empty in seconds.

No one was going to risk their neck for Josephine Wheeler.

Joey scowled after them in contempt. If there was one thing she hated most, it was the very idea of _Hikari_. Cowards, all of them. They gave her a bad name.

But the three took advantage of her distraction to get the jump on her. She put up quite the fight, and had it been any other three people she might have won. But it wasn't anyone else, and soon she was propped up against the school building half-conscious. The others were panting heavily and bleeding in a couple places, but they had still won.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, someone stepped in between her and her three tormentors, holding out their arms as if to shield Joey.

And what was Joey Wheeler, bully, strategist, all-around jerk thinking at this moment? She wasn't creating a clever escape plan. She wasn't wishing she could get up and beat Hirutani to a pulp. She wasn't thanking the person in between her and the gang members. She was wondering about what she had for breakfast.

The thought process went something like this:

Tristan? No, not Tristan. It wasn't Serenity either. Well no one else would stand in between her and certain destruction. Maybe the person thought she was someone else, or maybe they just had a bone to pick with Hirutani.

That was when whoever it was yelled "No, I can't let you do that to my friend!"

The voice sounded familiar, but her brain was cloudy.

The small girl in front of Joey looked back at her in worry, showing Joey her face.

Yugi freaking Moto. But not in her school uniform, which had been the only thing Joey had ever seen her in up to this point. She was wearing black pants and a blue blazer, which was strange. There was no way Yugi would do this. She hated Joey, and if she didn't, she was even _more_ idiotic than Joey previously thought. She was hallucinating, that must be it. Yugi wasn't actually here, Hirutani and the others would walk right though her in a second before continuing the beating. But why hallucinate Yugi? Why not Tristan or Serenity?

But if she was hallucinating Yugi, how did Hirutani punch her?

There was only one explanation: she was going insane. Yep. Not only was she imagining Yugi, she was imagining Hirutani, Kahn, and Richard as well as them beating her up. That's great. Maybe she shouldn't have eaten that burrito this morning; it was pretty big for being 25 cents, something must have been wrong with it, but it's not like she could afford anything else anyway.

"That should teach her." Hirutani's grating voice was the last thing that Joey heard before everything went black, her last thought being _maybe it'll make sense when I wake up._

It didn't.

She was still lying there, surprisingly less injured than she would have thought, and Yugi was just a little ways away. She was still wearing the un-hikari-esque clothes. She was also wearing a leather dog collar that Joey hadn't noticed before, but now that she did Yugi was starting to scare her a bit. Joey stared.

 _Friend?_

As much as she hated it, Joey couldn't bring herself to think Yugi stupid for calling her that, even though it was. Undeniably stupid, that is. No one with any common sense would call their tormentor (though she rationalized it, she knew that's how others saw her) a friend.

Crawling her way over to the smaller girl, Joey ruffled though the jacket until she extracted Yugi's wallet.

 _Please don't wake up please don't wake up please don't wake up_

She needed to know where Yugi lived; she wasn't about to let her freeze and her family worry.

It read: _If found, please return to the Kame game shop._

A game shop. Joey had never been one for games, but she knew where this particular game shop was located. She scooped the smaller girl up and started the trek to Yugi's house.

* * *

Yugi awoke feeling sore and awkwardly positioned.

Trying to turn, to get her neck in a less bent-backwards position, she froze when whatever she was lying on shifted to make her more comfortable as well.

"Hold still, we're almost dere," a voice grunted from above her.

If Yugi wasn't already frozen, she would have been then. There was no doubt that voice belonged to Joey Wheeler who, while being a lot nicer than her other bullies, still wasn't someone who Yugi expected to carry her home.

Suddenly Joey stopped, drawing a squeak from Yugi who was jerked.

"Eh, da shop's right dere. You can walk from here right?" Joey asked, refusing to look directly at the smaller girl. As soon as Yugi nodded, albeit hesitantly, Joey practically dropped her (though made sure she was on her feet) and then ran for the hills. After standing in confused silence for a few moments, Yugi slowly made her way back to her house.

* * *

After that, instead of bullying people in her spare time Joey started hanging out with Yugi and, by default, Ryo and Malik. They were weary of her at first, understandably, but eventually came to an understanding that allowed all to rest easy.

* * *

Interesting fact #36: I think having past Joey think of Hikaris as collectively giving her a bad name rather than her giving them a bad name is amusing.


	36. The Most Difficult of Patients

AN: So I got a few people who said they thought Joey was stealing Yugi's wallet for a moment there. That's what it looked like, and Joey knew that, which is why she was hoping Yugi wouldn't wake up; it would have looked like she was stealing her money, not finding her address.

* * *

 _Back to normal time_

Joey had managed to convince the doctors not to call her mother or father; Mom wouldn't care but Dad would have had quite a few things to say when she got home. The money issue was partially taken care of as well; Maria had gone around and asked for donations for her, and since everyone around here was pretty sure she was homeless it worked rather well. She had never confirmed it, but she didn't deny it either. The rest of the payment would be made by Joey, from that savings that she didn't want to use.

As soon as the others were allowed to come in, however, her anxiety came back. She requested only Tristan come in first, though, so she could ask _exactly_ what they had figured out because of his comment.

Needless to say, the conversation was hushed and hurried because they were sure at least Bakura and Marik were trying to listen in. When it was over, Joey had confirmed that they technically didn't know anything but by now strongly suspected the truth. At least, Tristan thought some of them did. Also, they would have to answer who Tristan was talking about, and had decided to tell them it was Hirutani that Tristan had suspected. That was plausible, right? Totally.

When that was decided, Tristan left and told the others they could go in before returning to his aunt's house.

When they did come into the room (usually only five people would be allowed in but Yugi just looked so darn sad that Maria made an exception) she was bombarded by questions. From Yugi, Ryo, and Malik were questions of concern. Atem and Kaiba were mostly asking about what Tristan had said (or demanding, in Kaiba's case). Marik and Bakura were asking random questions to the whole room, generally pertaining to how much things in the room were worth and then speculating.

Since so much was going on, Joey decided to ignore those she didn't like much and just answer her friends.

"Joey, does it still hurt? Are they giving you painkillers?" Yugi asked immediately.

"Nah, I don't need painkillers. It doesn't hurt too badly," Joey grinned, effectively ignoring the blazing pain. Painkillers cost too much; she'd just grab an Advil or five when she managed to get home.

"Not even when they set the bone?" Ryo asked, horrified.

"That must have hurt," Malik frowned.

"What? Well, a little, but don't worry. I've had worse," Joey grinned giving them all a thumbs up. That did not inspire confidence.

"Joey, who did Tristan think did this to you?" Yugi asked, drawing all attention to Joey and stopping any useful side questions- even those coming from Marik and Bakura.

"Uh, Hirutani," Joey said in response. By the way she was refusing to look anyone in the eyes and fiddling with something in her right hand it was strongly suspected that she was lying. Before anyone could question her further, however, Bakura caught a glint of gold.

"What do we have here?" He asked, grin spreading across his features. His hand darted out to grab the glint from Joey, but she moved faster and buried her hand under her blankets while fixing him with a killer glare.

"None a' your business." Bakura was ready to retort, but right then (very conveniently) the doctors came back in and ushered everyone out insisting that Joey stay overnight. When the doctors finally left her alone, she pulled out her hand. Opening it, she stared at the golden winged Kuriboh necklace swinging softly from her fingers. Yugi had seen it, but if Joey had anything to say about it no one else would _ever_ see the thing. But she could never get rid of it and she couldn't lock it away; it was far too important for that.

* * *

The next morning, Yugi arrived to pick up Joey all by herself. She was a bit late, though, because she had been pulled over twice for being underage and had to sort out the problem with her driver's license and ID.

Yugi walked into the hospital hesitantly. She had never really liked hospitals, they reminded her of needles and shots; both of which Yugi was mildly terrified of. She headed over to the front desk and felt her heart sink when she realized that it was taller than her. She couldn't even see over the edge. Before she had to commence the monumental task of getting the attention of the lady, however, she heard a commotion coming down the hallway that went to Joey's room.

Glancing around once, Yugi decided that if everyone was going to assume she was a kid she should be able to act like one, and so headed off towards the sound (which she felt sure was Joey) without asking. And, sure enough, just a little ways down the hall was Joey, hobbling along with her leg in a cast and her arm in a sling, the doctors trying to get her back but having trouble grabbing her without jostling her injuries. Joey seemed to realize their plight and was milking it for all she was worth.

"Joey, you're not supposed to be walking!" Yugi exclaimed, though she wasn't really surprised. Joey couldn't use crutches because of her broken arm, and she couldn't use a wheelchair all by herself either. She would have to have someone carting her around at all times, which Yugi knew wouldn't fly with Joey.

"Oh, Yuug! Hey, ya here ta pick me up?" Joey asked, completely ignoring Yugi's previous statement. Yugi sighed, having known that would happen, but nodded nonetheless.

"You're the patient's friend, right? Could you please talk some sense into her?!" That was the new doctor; he hadn't met Joey before today and it was made obvious by the way he referred to her as "the patient".

"The name's Joey, and no. She can't talk sense inta me; I'm way too stubborn for dat." The doctor seemed to deflate at that statement, and though he looked to his fellows for help all they did was nod in agreement. They had dealt with Joey way too many times to try to take her health into their own hands.

"Sorry," Yugi apologized to the guy, knowing that having Joey as a patient was not easy. "I'll make sure she doesn't move around too much, but she won't ever agree to being carried or pushed so you might want to just settle with walking her out."

In the end, they settled and five minutes later saw Joey and Yugi riding back home. Joey had offered to drive, but everyone present had immediately shot her down so she was currently sulking in the passenger's seat.

"Joey, is it alright?" Yugi asked after a while of silence. Joey seemed to be lost in thought, staring blankly out the window while her fingers fiddled with something under the collar of her jacket.

"Huh?" She asked, pulled back to the real world and staring at Yugi uncomprehendingly.

"Your necklace. Is it alright?" Light dawning, Joey pulled said necklace out into the open. They were in a contained space, and had quite a while before getting anywhere close to home, so she felt comfortable pulling it out here. She had examined it and cleaned it yesterday; the stupid thing's wing had cut her when she landed on it so it had blood _and_ dirt on it before. Now it shined as brightly as ever, as if it wasn't sharp as a knife or guilty of causing her so many problems.

"Yeah. Dis guy's a tough little bugger," she said, once again admiring how it shone in the light. For the sheer number of times it had been covered in something unsavory, the fact that it was still gold, much less shining, was a miracle. And how it was still in the shape of a Kuriboh, the wings not even bent, after it had been hit and landed on by things and stabbed into certain people several times, was a testimony to the amazing workmanship.

When Yugi stopped the car for a red light, she took the time to observe the necklace as well. She had wondered how Joey got a hold of it since she first saw it, it was a very expensive necklace after all, but Joey just refused to answer. She knew Joey would never have bought it herself; it was both expensive and in a shape that Joey would deem embarrassing. For the second reason, Joey wouldn't steal it either. At least not to keep and wear around.

The only hint she had ever actually given as to its origin was to let slip that she had it for years; at least six. It was very important to Joey, and Yugi could tell by the way her eyes got misted over whenever she looked at it.

Once the car started moving again, Joey shook herself out of her stupor and put the necklace back on. The rest of the car ride was used to make absolutely certain that no glint of gold could be seen from under her jacket.

Yugi and Joey walked into the shop; no one had been waiting for their return much to Joey's chagrin. Seto, from the back room, heard the door open and close. He glanced around the door frame before turning and calling up the stairs.

"The Mutt's back."

"I AIN'T A MUTT!" Joey raged, though with her leg in her cumbersome cast she was unable to run over and glare directly at him like she wanted to. Before he could reply, Ryo and Malik had run down the stairs and placed themselves between the two.

"Joey! Are you feeling alright?"

"Shouldn't you be in a wheelchair?"

"Or at least sitting down?"

"So what if I should?" Joey asked, drawing herself up to full height and tilting her chin up imperiously. Unluckily for her, there were three people in the house not nearly as compassionate as her doctors were and one of those three people saw the distress on a certain Hikari's face at hearing Joey's reply. And that person decided to rectify that.

Without a word, Bakura walked past Seto and the Hikaris and grabbed Joey by the elbow of her uninjured arm. Then, ignoring her protests, he dragged her into the living room and pushed her onto the couch.

"I'll sit on you if you try to stand," he said when Joey started to get up once more.

"You wouldn't," Joey scowled.

"Try me." That grin meant that he really didn't care if he had to brake her leg to get her to sit. Joey sat back, but didn't cease her scowling. These were going to be a long few weeks until her leg healed, and even longer for her arm.

* * *

AN/Clarification: **I do not think that Yugi is weak**. Nor do I think Joey is truly useless or Ryo is evil. Yet I've said all three. Why? Because it's _not me_ speaking. _Joey_ used to think Yugi was weak. _Kaiba_ insists that Joey is useless. _Bakura_ has accused pure little Ryo of being the devil (though not verbally or in so many words). As a writer, it's not my job to say what I think of the characters, it's my job to make sure you know what the _characters_ think of _each other._ My opinions don't matter; I'm not in this universe, I'm just trying to create an interesting story using other people's characters. Yes, I do have personal opinions about them; I like some more than others. Yes, I'm sure if you look you can tell what my feelings are; it's the nature of writing, no one is truly unbiased no matter how hard they try. But know that I do not character bash, I don't explicitly insult characters in a way another character does not see them, and I try to keep them all in character.

I'm sure the person that sparked this rant knows who they are, but I ask them not to worry about it. I have a bit of a jumbled style; sometimes it's hard to see why I just insulted a character outside of dialogue; I probably should have mentioned this earlier. I wasn't offended by your review, I just felt like I should answer on here in case someone else got the same vibe from me but didn't review.

Sorry I'm so verbose.

 **Factoid #37** : Joey's bone is just bruised, not broken or fractured. It's in a brace because the doctors know her enough to realize she wouldn't take it easy if they just told her to, so instead they slapped on a device that restricts movement. (Keep in mind that I'm no doctor; I have a rudimentary idea of broken and bruised bones at best, so if I get something way wrong feel free to drop me a line)


	37. A Strange Find

When Joey was calmed down enough to remember that she couldn't go to her jobs in this condition, after having a small conniption at the realization, she got out her phone and dialed a number.

"Hey… Don't call me dat, sushi!" Joey growled, but after a few seconds where the person she was talking to was most likely talking she sighed. "Yes sir. Thresher, not Sushi ... Yeah, I would, but I can't … I got inta a bit of a jam, alright? … No, ya can't help. I just got myself a bit messed up. I can't fi-", Joey stopped mid-word when she remembered she wasn't alone in the room, "uh, work for a while … a couple a' months … Look, you try doin' heavy work with a broken arm and a bruised leg! … Yeah, thanks. I'll tell ya when I can get back in. Oh, and if ya tell any of da guys about this I'll take ya down myself when I get back." She snapped the old phone closed with a huff.

"Who was that, Joey?" Yugi asked.

"One a' my bosses."

"Named Thresher?" Malik asked, unbelieving.

"Nah, dat's just a nickname. Ya know, like da shark?" The others in the room stared. The fact that he had a nickname like Thresher, something that _beats_ something else, was not a good sign. What,exactly, did one have to do to get such a nickname? And what had that word been- the one she stopped saying when she'd spotted her friends... "I got two otha bosses ta call too, so don't mind me." She, not seeming to notice the other's stares, flipped her phone open again and dialed another number.

"...Hey Rob. I ain't gonna be able ta work for a while, my arm got broken. Text me when ya get this; I'll tell ya when I can come back." Hang up, type in, call. "Kirami, hey. I might not be ta work for a while ... yeah, how'd you know? ... His brotha's in da hospital too, right? ... Tell 'im sorry for me ... right. Thanks."

* * *

Joey had been confined to the couch for only two hours and was already desperate for _anything_ to do. The boredom had been lessened only slightly by Atem joining her; he had immediately turned on the news and was watching avidly.

 _Ugh_. Joey did _not_ like watching the news. Half of it was propaganda from Kaibacorp, and the other half was either useless or boring. Deciding anything would be more exciting, Joey stuck her still-mobile hand into the couch cushions and began rooting around. Usually it wasn't _too_ exciting, but there would probably be some spare change and maybe even a piece of jewelry.

Her fingers brushed something cool, which she fumbled a few times before finally grasping it and pulling it out. She blinked in surprise.

It was a button.

Not a regular button one would find on a jacket or any practical article of clothing, but a golden and ornate one. It had no holes; one of those with a metal loop on the back, which allowed for the front to be covered with an intricate design; a dragon with a ruby-red eye.

"Hey Yuug," Joey called, looking much more into this button than she would have had she not been momentously bored, "what's dis from? I don' remember eva seein' it before." Atem glanced over before returning his gaze to the TV; it was talking about some resistance uprising in Egypt.

"Neither have I," Yugi admitted curiously, reaching out and taking the piece. "But it isn't heavy enough to be real gold," she would know, since the nearly-finished puzzle in her room and its box were both made of the substance.

"What-" Malik's startled voice cut off suddenly, as if she had just realized she shouldn't have spoken at all. Joey and Yugi turned to look at her, but the Egyptian's eyes were glued to the button Yugi was holding. "Uh, Yugi, what's that?" She asked, forcing her eyes up to her friend's. It was weird; she was asking the question, she looked honestly confused, but it seemed more like she wanted to know why Yugi _had_ it than what it was.

"A button. It was in the couch, but I don't remember seeing it before."

"I know a guy dat carries somethin' like dat around, but his has a blue eye," Joey piped up, unsure if such a piece of information was important. Malik looked at her with momentary shock before once again trying to cover it up.

"Okay, just wondering," she said with a forced smile, "can I see it?" After a few moments of examining it, she mumbled, "maybe it's Gramp's…"

"Speakin' of, when's gramps getting home?" Joey asked Yugi, seeing as the petit girl was the only one who had a chance of knowing. Yugi paled, amethyst eyes widening.

"Tomorrow! Oh, so much has been happening that I totally forgot! How am I going to explain you all being here?" Yugi fretted. Before anyone could offer any sort of suggestion, though, Yugi's phone rang. "It's grandpa… Hello?"

"Yugi! Very exciting over here, we've, ah, made a discovery so I'll be over here for another week or two." As soon as she answered the phone, it seemed that the TV got louder; the explosions, people shouting on the footage, she could hardly hear him!

"Ate- I mean, Joey, could you turn down the TV?" Atem did so, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Yugi, did you just say 'Atem'? Do you have a boy over there?!"

"Ah, nope, just me, Joey, Ryo, and Malik. Did you say you're going to be another week or two?"

"Don't change the subject! I want to know-" he cut off suddenly, there was yelling in some foreign language. "I need to get back to work, but don't think I'll forget about this!"

Yugi pulled her phone away from her ear and regarded it. That was probably the weirdest phone call she had ever received.

* * *

Factoid #38: You know that one TV show that you watch where two characters totally like each other but are too scared/in denial and you're just like "oh my gosh, won't you two just flippin' kiss already?!" That's what Joey and Seto's relationship is like, except that it's the characters _in universe_ that are annoyed that they aren't together yet.


	38. Bored to School

"You aren't seriously going to school like that, are you?" Malik asked incredulously on Monday morning when she, Ryo, and Yugi had come downstairs to see Joey. She was wearing one of her plain white t-shirts and her black slacks, but her red jacket had been tied around her waist. She couldn't wear it while wearing the sling on her arm.

"A' course. I got a perfect attendance, I can't just skip school," Joey scoffed.

"Actually, since you were kidnapped that one day…" Ryo pointed out quietly, but Joey waved it off.

"And I went ta school the day afta, explained da situation, and dey gave me a pass."

"But still, Joey, you shouldn't even be standing right now!" Yugi fretted.

"Nyeh nyeh nyeh," she said, making the _blah blah blah_ motion with her hand. "I ain't stayin' here with rich-boy and the Yamis. If I gotta spend one more day sittin' on dat couch wit everyone getting' me everythin', I'm gonna go crazy!"

The other Hikaris shared hesitant looks. Yes, Joey wasn't supposed to be walking or anything like that, but she just wasn't the type of person that could deal with inactivity for so long. And, she was amazingly (if a bit overwhelmingly) independent and hated when people did things for her.

If they didn't let her go, either she or Kaiba would be dead by lunch.

* * *

"You hear that, Seto? That was the sound of chance, flying out the window. The chance to express your true feelings to her while she can't run away!" Marik said dramatically, immediately after the door had closed. He then pretended to faint, falling towards Bakura. Bakura sidestepped and let him hit the ground.

While Marik started yelling at Bakura for letting him fall, Kaiba silently grabbed his laptop and headed for the door. He didn't quite make as clean of an escape as he would have hoped though, since Atem saw him as he opened the door.

"Where are you going? We're supposed to avoid going outside," Atem pointed out with a frown. Ever since that first disastrous outing, the four Yamis had been basically under house arrest.

"I'm not spending all day in the same house as those idiots," Kaiba said coldly, stalking out the door and slamming it shut behind him.

"What's got his boxers in a knot?" Marik asked, honestly confused.

* * *

Joey sat in Science, alone at the table she usually shared with Kaiba. Science was one of the only classes that hadn't separated Joey and Kaiba as far as possible by the third month, probably because Ushio actually enjoyed watching them fight. She was perfectly fine with them being moved away from each other, but in almost all her other classes she was placed by one of her other friends. In this one, Ryo was on the other side of the room.

All in all, since Kaiba had stopped coming to school last week, science had become really boring.

"Joey misses arguing with Kaiba," Ryo said to no one in particular from her spot in the back of the room. "She'd never admit it though." She sighed, eyes sliding over to the empty spot next to her. Bakura almost never actually talked to her, even after the whole soulmates thing was revealed, but it was comforting to have him around and, in a strange way, she missed him as well.

The day was mostly normal, besides the slightly melancholy demeanor around the Hikaris. But that had lingered during school since their Yamis left- other than Joey who had been positively thrilled until she realized that without Kaiba to bug she had no entertainment.

The only difference in class was that wherever she went, Joey would get well-wishers and questioners. As well as some scoffs and a bit of scorn, but she was used to that bit.

One guy even asked if it was going to leave a scar, and looked so put out when she said no that she cheerfully continued, "I do have a real cool one from a knife a few years ago, but I can't show you in public." She topped it off with a huge grin, and for about two seconds he was shocked into silence. He got over it quickly, laughed, and gave her a huge smack on the back that almost sent her reeling. "You're a funny one, Joe," he had tossed over his shoulder as he walked away.

Then came lunch. Joey showed up later than usual, understandable because she had to walk like a normal person rather than performing an Olympic sprint to the front of the line, and as soon as she walked in the door all attention was drawn to her.

It wasn't because she looked strange, or she was doing something particularly obnoxious, or even because everyone was happy she was back. No, it was because as soon as she had walked in with Yugi, Ryo, and Malik, her name had been yelled to the world.

* * *

Tristan had been having a perfectly fine day.

His janitorial duties had been taken care of by some newbie that didn't get the concept of splitting up the workload (not that he was too broken up about it), so he got basically the whole morning off. Then he got free lunch from one of the lunch ladies who seemed to have a crush on him or something (weird, but, hey, free food) and was able to finish before he had to start serving lunch to the students. He even got away without wearing that stupid plastic cap that made his hair look funny!

Seeing as he didn't have any chores or work to do after school, he thought he might go visit Joey. He hadn't been able to see her since he left the hospital, but Yugi had given him periodic reports via Joey's phone (they had taken it away from her for some reason, but all he got from the awkward mumbling were the words "sparks" and "bored").

He sniggered at the thought, ignoring the strange look from the student who had just asked him what was in the goopy green slime he was serving. Bored was right; his best friend was probably half out of her mind with cabin fever already. She never had been one to sit still. Maybe he should bring her some video games to pass the time- it would be pretty funny, even if she did hit him for it.

Just as he was thinking this, he happened to look past the Yami that had just stepped up to get some of the slime (he wasn't sure what it was really, but then again he didn't know what the other stuff they served was either. Just that it tasted good). Lo and behold, Joey's Hikari friends were walking into the cafeteria. But it wasn't them that almost made Tristan drop the slime all over as he looked on, slack-jawed. That would be Joey, who shouldn't have been _moving_ much less _standing_. And _walking,_ which was what she was doing with no help at all, was completely out of the question!

"Joey!" The cafeteria went silent, eyes turning to Tristan for only a moment before seeking out the blond that he was obviously not happy with.

Joey wasn't the only one who could make a scene.

"Eh, hi Tris?" It sounded more like a question than anything, but that didn't stop Joey's awkward half-wave toward her best friend. The guy looked seriously pissed, which Joey knew was really a combination of worry and exasperation.

"What are you doing here, idiot?!" Tristan scowled, dropping the ladle he was holding and splashing a little green slime on the counter as he marched around to the student section of the cafeteria.

Had anyone else said that, Joey would have yelled right back. As it was, this was Tristan, and while she was pretty darn bad at discerning feelings usually, she knew Tristan's like the back of her hand. Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) she would forget that he was a serious worrywart, not that he didn't have a reason, and snap right back at him. But right now, with the constant throb in her leg and arm to remind her that he _did_ have a reason, she just grumbled and shoved her right hand into her pocket.

To the crowd, as Tristan went on his rant it looked like a worried parent reaming out his skulking son for doing something dangerous.

"Ya done yet?" Joey asked as soon as Tristan stopped to take a breath. Seeing Tristan's face scrunch in anger reborn, she cut in. "Did ya really expect me ta stay home?" He puffed up for a moment in indignation, but deflated almost immediately.

"No," he sighed.

"Good, you're not as stupid as ya look." Joey snapped, feeling distinctly uncomfortable with everyone in the cafeteria staring at them.

The other Hikaris smothered groans. Joey had almost, _almost_ , made it though the conversation without directing unwarranted anger at her best friend. She really needed to see a therapist or something.

"Don't you have anything betta ta do than watch us?!" Joey suddenly snapped, turning on the students in the cafeteria. As soon as most of them turned away, she muttered "come on, we gotta talk," and pulled Tristan out of the room.

The other Hikaris watched as the two left with frowns, but proceeded in silence to get their food and sit at their regular table. It felt extremely empty now that the Yami's half was no longer occupied.

"What do you think Joey needed to talk to Tristan about?" Malik asked in a conspiratorial whisper as soon as they sat down.

"It sounded urgent," Yugi frowned, picking at her food.

"Maybe it had to do with what really got her hurt…" Ryo quietly voiced the thoughts of the other two, causing them to look at her in shock.

" _You_ didn't believe her?" Malik asked, looking at Ryo in disbelief. Ryo, the most trusting person in possibly the entire universe, didn't believe one of her _friends_? The world must be coming to an end.

"Um, it's just, she was acting suspicious… and Tristan was convinced that… w-well, maybe I'm just being paranoid… I've p-probably been spending too much time with Bakura… I'm sorry…" Ryo backtracked, looking down at the table guiltily. Maybe she shouldn't have said that… what if Malik and Yugi thought she was betraying Joey by not giving her the benefit of the doubt?

"Don't apologize, Ryo," Malik ordered, frowning at her almost-albino friend. "I've been thinking the same thing."

"Yeah, Joey is clumsy but she's never hurt herself that badly. Plus, if it was her own fault I don't think she would have been so opposed to going to a hospital." Yugi looked around nervously, suddenly worried that someone was listening in. Or maybe that Joey would come back and find out that none of her friends believed her story.

"Do you think it was Joey's old gang? Or maybe another Yami?" Ryo asked worriedly, tearing her eyes away from the table that had been terribly interesting only moments before. Now was not the time for embarrassment or hesitancy, Joey had been assaulted!

Yugi bit the inside of her lip, eyebrows furrowing when Malik nodded at Ryo's suggestion. Joey had never hesitated to call out gangs or Yamis when they tried to beat her up, whether they succeeded or not. No, the way she acted when she was questioned was like she was defending someone. Yugi knew that type of behavior from when she was bullied, and she didn't want to get anyone in trouble. The evidence to support Yugi's worrying theory about Joey's home life was piling up.

But should she say anything to Malik or Ryo?

If Malik found out, she would inevitably confront Joey about it, or insist they stalk her until they found out the truth or something like that. If she was right, would that really be a bad thing? But if she was wrong and Joey found out about her hunch, what would happen then?

If Ryo found out she would treat Joey differently; not on purpose, but she was just much too sympathetic to pretend everything was fine when it obviously was not. But maybe her quiet and innocent nature could get Joey to admit something was wrong? But Ryo also couldn't keep a secret, and Malik would find out in no time, at which point the first set of consequences would occur anyway.

Yugi opened her mouth, not quite sure on what she planned on saying. Would she change the subject? Agree with the gang theory? Tell them her suspicions?

She was saved from deciding any of that when Joey moseyed her way back over to their table with her usual grin perfectly in place.

"Joey, what were you and Tristan talking about?" Malik asked as soon as the blond got within hearing range.

"What, back dere? Nothin' important." She shrugged, placing her trey down on the table and beginning to eat. The others weren't sure whether she was just hungry, or avoiding more questions. It was hard to tell with Joey, because she ate with such gusto all the time that she could never be perceived as overeager. Or, rather, more overeager than normal.

The other three shared a look, which Joey missed because she was stuffing her face.

* * *

Factoid #39: Making Joey angry while fighting her is a bad idea. She doesn't get _better_ with anger, in fact she gets a little sloppier, but the angrier she is the less she lets her injuries get in her way. IE, in a normal fight if something got fractured she'd call it off. In a fight where her opponent insulted her sister if she got a broken arm she'd get back up and start punching with the other one.


	39. Never Leave the Yamis Alone

"Shorty said she lived with her Gramps, right?" Marik asked, lazily playing with one of the larger knives available in the house.

"Yes. Why?" Atem confirmed as he took his shot at trying to throw the rubber ball they had found into the small waste-basket that Bakura had somehow stuck to the wall. Atem hadn't asked how, he always did have a bit of a one-track mind when you challenged him to a game, but he wasn't going to be pleased when he did find out.

Currently the score was Marik: 3 Bakura: 4 Atem: 6.

This was the 8th round. Bakura and Marik groaned as the ball flew in a perfect arc and landed with an unsteady bounce in the basket.

Stupid Pharaoh, always winning.

"Just wondering why her parents aren't around," Marik said casually as he fished the rubber ball out of the basket for his turn.

"Marik," Atem said, voice suddenly deadly serious. "You and Bakura are absolutely forbidden from asking her or any of the others about that. You, of all people, should know not to."

There was a tense silence.

Perhaps common sense said that if your family was murdered you should be more sensitive to other's plights. In that case, Bakura was the exception.

But what did common sense say if you were the one who murdered them?

Marik threw the ball much too hard, it bounced off the wall above the basket with great force, Bakura barely dodged it, and it crashed into the cupboard behind him, where several things falling over (at least one of them breaking) could be heard as the result.

One glance at Atem's horrified face made him crack up.

* * *

It had been a long day at school, and Joey especially couldn't wait to just flop down on the couch and relax. Because, honestly, when doctors say you shouldn't walk you probably shouldn't. Her leg was killing her.

Yugi, Malik, and Ryo were a bit more subdued; they had been since they shared their concerns over the circumstances of Joey's injuries. Joey hadn't really noticed; she was much too happy about that conversation she had with Tristan before lunch.

So when they walked in the house, they did not expect to see the sort of chaos that was before them.

Bakura seemed to be covered in some sort of red gel-like substance (jam, hopefully), and Marik had small smears of it on his person as well but he was cracking up and running rather than growling and chasing. Atem had been yelling at them, trying to make them stop, but when he heard the door open he froze, looking at the four boy-looking-girls with a deer-caught-in-headlights expression.

"I… can explain?" Atem really didn't sound so sure about that, so Marik decided to help by distracting them with a question.

"So, shorty. Where're your parents anyway?"

There was hardly enough time for shock to form on Malik's face, anger on Atem's, an aghast look on Ryo's, and Yugi to look down to hide her expression before Joey (even with her broken arm and bruised leg) was somehow in front of Marik and had shoved him to the floor with utter rage on her face.

"Family's off limits. Ya mention it again an' I'll do a lot worse than push ya a little!" She threatened, entirely serious.

She wasn't sure exactly what had happened with Yugi's parents, just like Yugi wasn't sure what happened with hers, but both knew enough.

It had come up only a few weeks after they had become friends, when Joey had let slip about Serenity's existence. Yugi learned that her parents were divorced and she didn't get along with her mother. In return, Yugi had only said "my mom died in childbirth."

Nothing about her father.

Joey didn't know _why_ Yugi avoided mentioining him, but she _did_ know that meant whatever happened wasn't good.

Atem stepped forward and put a hand on Joey's shoulder, resisting the urge to flinch when her fiery gaze swung to him.

Apparently family was not only a touchy subject for his group.

"Joey, it won't happen again. You two," he turned from reassuring to stern in a split second, "get cleaned up and then clean up the mess you made."

"Where's Kaiba?" Asked Malik after the two had gone upstairs. Joey was currently sitting down (that sprint across the room was apparently not as easy as she made it look while threatening Marik), and Ryo was busy consoling Yugi. But they were all wondering why Kaiba didn't stop Marik and Bakura from causing so much damage.

"We're not sure," Atem informed them, trying not to grimace. "He left soon after you. I would have followed him, but I couldn't bring Marik and Bakura with me and I wouldn't leave them alone either."

Joey would have liked to yell at him for that, but couldn't fault his logic. Left alone, those two psychopaths would either wreak havoc on the house or leave and wreak havoc on everywhere else.

Plus, she wasn't that broken up about Kaiba being missing.

"Kaiba's missing? We have to find him!" Yugi blurted out, eyes wide. She had apparently recovered from the bad memories brought back by Marik's question and was back to her normal self.

"We'll help," Malik said, glancing towards Ryo who nodded.

"I'm stayin' here," Joey said unsympathetically, kicking her feet up onto the couch and making herself comfortable. "What? If Kaiba let someone get 'im he prob'ly deserved it," she said defensively when she realized everyone's eyes were on her. Her defensive statement really turned out to be more of an offensive one.

She would have said "Kaiba can take care of himself" except that was a compliment, and Joey would _not_ give Kaiba a complement even if the jerk was dying of cancer and it was his last wish.

Joey honestly wouldn't put it past Kaiba to make his last wish a complement from "the Mutt" because no matter how she responded it would reflect badly on her. Do it? She would lose, and her reputation would be utterly demolished. Don't? She just denied the last wish of a dying man, and even if that man wasn't Seto Kaiba last wishes were not something to be bandied around lightly.

But before anyone could try to guilt Joey into going, the door opened. In stepped Kaiba, as if he hadn't been causing people headaches all day. Mostly by not being there to stop them.

* * *

Factoid #40: During the waste-basket basketball off, the one point Atem lost was when the ball did actually land in the basket but it bounced out. Marik had two of his points and Bakura one of his points for the same occurrence, but they refused to let Atem have a perfect score and Marik was in charge of point keeping.


	40. The Perks of Friendship

The next day went similarly, but Kaiba stayed at Yugi's and was able to glare Marik and Bakura into behaving.

They had been back at Yugi's for about an hour when Tristan came.

"Uh, Joe?" He called as he walked into the shop in front of the actual house. He wondered if he should knock. Would that be stupid? Knocking to enter a store?

Yes. Even if there was a house behind it.

But still.

Before he could go through with his plan of awkwardly knocking on the counter (thank goodness), one of Joey's Hikari friends, the white-haired one, stepped into the shop from the back.

"Hello… Tristan?" She asked, a soft British accent making her speech strangely emphasized. She and Joey were really the only two he ever talked to regularly that had accents, so that was probably why he noticed it so much. He nodded, confirming his identity, and she graced him with a shy smile. "Joey's back here," she said, leading him back and into what looked like the living room.

In the center of the room was a couch positioned in front of a TV, on which Joey was lying and looking utterly disinterested with life as she complained about ridiculous worrywarts who wouldn't let a perfectly healthy person walk around.

"Hey, Joey, I got you something to entertain yourself," Tristan announced, smirking when Joey did exactly what he expected her to. And that was suddenly stop complaining, jolt to a sitting position with a huge grin, and look at him expectantly.

"What is it? What is it?" She asked, practically bouncing. Sometimes, Tristan was sure Joey was really a dog at heart. A golden retriever puppy, specifically.

He pulled out the first-person-shooter game he had come with and savored the dark scowl that appeared on Joey's face. Ah, the joys of friendship.

"I already know I suck, ya don't gotta make fun 'a me," she muttered darkly, sinking back into her previous position.

"Aww, Joe, don't be like that," Tristan frowned, leaning over the back of the couch. "I just wanted to give you something to do. You know, so you don't get so bored that you _walk to school tomorrow_."

They traded glares for a good five seconds.

"I already _said_ sorry!" Joey snapped, annoyed that Tristan hadn't let it go. "An' I'm layin' down now, ain't I?"

"Speaking of, I did what you asked. He's fine, has plenty of food, and the rent's paid for the next month," he reported. He had paid with his own money rather than that Joey had given him, but now he had to figure out how to give the money back without her knowing.

"Who's fine?" And in comes Kaiba. Joey and Tristan both glared at the interruption, non-verbally making it clear that they wouldn't answer.

"Um, so, you two never told us how you met." Yugi stepped in, hoping to avoid a confrontation.

Tristan smirked evilly and Joey's eyes widened in horror.

"No, no, don't you _dare_ Tristan! Ya gonna regret it!" She threatened, forcing herself into a sitting position, but he had retreated across the room and out of arms reach. "That's not even when we first met! He helped out the gang sometimes, that was it!"

"But it was the first time we actually _talked_ ," Tristan grinned. "So that makes it the first time we _really_ met!"

"I'll tell 'em about Clair!"

"But _my_ story is _much_ worse."

Joey managed to get herself standing, and Tristan lead a slow-motion chase scene around the house. Joey wasn't moving quickly, and rather than the concern Tristan had shown earlier he was now taunting her. And for some reason, he thought that was a grand time to start the story.

"So as you know, Joey was in the gang and I helped them out sometimes. We had just finished something and Joe and I were left for clean up... That's what they told us anyway. Really, Hirutani had got a tip that the police were early and all the Yamis scrammed. But by the time we figured that out, we were boxed in the building. Keep in mind, this was seventh grade..."

* * *

 _FLASHBACK START!_

Tristan watched the only female member of the baddest gang in town pace a hole in the pavement of the room they were in. She had been unofficially tutored by Hirutani for two years now, but this was her first actual job.

"They're coming. They are freaking coming, and we have no way out! _We're going to jail for ever!_ "

Honestly, he was just as freaked out as her, but he wasn't going to admit that.

"You mean _you're_ going to jail forever. I'm a normal; I have a chance to talk my way out of this."

That stopped her pacing very quickly, and Tristan had the sudden thought that maybe he shouldn't taunt Yamis; even tiny girl ones.

But before he even attempted to fix it, she seemed to have a revelation and that look was suddenly replaced by a smirk of pure evil.

"Of course! No one arrests a Hikari!"

She had gone insane. That's all there was to it. She was nuts.

Why was she rolling up her... Sleeves... Those tattoos were green.

Joey Wheeler, only girl in a Yami gang, was a _Hikari_?!

Oh gosh, this chick was insane. They really were going to be thrown in jail forever.

"Act like a Hikari... What would a Hikari do?" She scoffed. "Cry." She paused a moment, her face blank, before that grin returned and she swung to look at Tristan. He resisted the urge to flinch away. "You're a normal, right? I'm a Hikari, we've been through a traumatic event. What happens? I cry, you comfort me! Hurry up, into that room over there!"

She went into a room off to the side and shoved Tristan down into a sitting position in the corner.

"Looks like we were trying to hide, or get as far as possible from the gang."

Then, without any warning, she fell to her knees beside him, wrapped her arms around him, buried her face in his chest, and cried.

 _Actually cried._

He froze.

There were running footsteps getting closer, doors increasingly loudly slammed open. The police were coming, and Tristan looked like he had been slapped in the face.

" _Be comforting, stupid! This'll never work if you sit there like an idiot!_ " She whispered harshly, knocking him into motion. He had only just hugged her back when the door to their room was slammed open and several armed policemen with guns rushed in. It took everything in Joey to force herself to let out a whimper, and the police halted. " _Tell them my name is Josephine_."

"Got some kids!" One of the officers yelled, alerting the others.

"Hey," a different one said, sounding a lot nicer. It was almost as if he thought he was trying to talk to a scared woodland creature. "Are you two okay? What are you doing here?"

And that was when Tristan revealed exactly why the gang let _him_ stick around.

"I… I'm T-Tristan, and this is my best friend, Josephine... We didn't want to do it, I'm sorry! They were just so big, and they're Yamis, and I'm sorry!" That was when Joey realized that Tristan had followed her lead and broken down at the most opportune moment- right before he said sorry. Soon Tristan had spun a tale and to the officers they seemed to be a blubbering mess on the ground; two twelve-year-olds taken advantage of by a gang because their parents weren't around. The police men couldn't possibly suspect them of anything.

A few hours later, when they had finally been released, they walked away from the building together. Joey, who currently had hair down to her mid-back, gave Tristan a cocky grin.

"We make one heck of a team, eh? Wanna go grab burgers?"

 _FLASHBACK END!_

"You _cried_? Actually _cried_?" Bakura asked, looking gleeful.

" _Noooooo,_ " Joey groaned, having fallen into the fetal position and covered her ears halfway through the story. "Tristan, ya gonna pay fa dis!"

Kaiba looked at the Mutt curled up on the floor with only a raised eyebrow. She really did look pitiful, whining like that. She had undoubtedly forgotten he was in the room thanks to the trauma of the story, because if she hadn't she wouldn't be acting like this. He did have to admit, however, that playing the weak Hikari was a gambit that he hadn't thought the Mutt was smart enough to think of, and even if she had he didn't think her pride would allow her to go through with it.

Though that did explain how she was listed as a victim or unwilling accomplice on all of the gang's pages.

One mystery solved.

Tristan, though enjoying tormenting his best friend, risked a glance over at the man who hated her most. Kaiba was just staring. Why wasn't he saying anything? Why didn't he look disgusted, or even vaguely irritated? What was that blank look about?

"What are you looking at, Kaiba?" He snapped suddenly, irritated at how the freak was staring at his best friend. It was _creepy_.

At those words, Joey's eyes snapped open wide and she jolted into a sitting position. After her face had flushed a deep red for half a second, she glared darkly at Kaiba who, after a moment to process, returned in kind. Then she turned the glare onto Tristan.

"Let's talk about that Yami…"

The rest of the afternoon turned into a fabulous experience of everyone sharing embarrassing stories of other people, from how Bakura and Marik first met Atem to Joey's first time on a rollercoaster to the most embarrassing prank that had been played on everyone. The only ones who actually participated were Tristan, Joey, Marik, Malik, and Bakura, but the others were definitely entertained.

Except Kaiba. Because he didn't derive pleasure from something so _petty_. He was just gathering information. That was it.

* * *

Factoid #41: Bakura and Marik met Atem after being caught by Gozobura; they hadn't been formally introduced to each other or really anyone else and were stalking around seperate from each other. Bakura decided to follow Marik (who was less stalking and more sauteing) out of boredom, and then Atem spotted them and thought they were up to something and so followed Bakura. Chaos ensued because Atem, as previously noted, is not stealthy when compared to Bakura.


	41. The Ball Starts to Roll

A week after the accident, Joey's leg was already beginning to feel better. Her bones were tough- already remodeled bone was tougher than usual bone after all- so it hadn't fractured, merely been bruised. She had always been a quick healer anyway. The doctors predicted it would be completely healed within a few weeks. Joey knew that meant she would be fine to walk around in a week.

Despite that, Yugi and Ryo were still forcing her to stay on the couch as much as they could.

Which was a surprisingly large amount, because their respective Yamis were helping.

Which meant that when Tristan arrived, she was once again on couch arrest.

Tristan grinned as he walked into the Kame Game shop carrying an envelope; he had finally found a way to explain giving Joey her money back! And just a little bit extra as well.

"Hey Joe, look what I found in your mailbox," he said, leaning over the back of the couch and dangling the package in front of the blond's face.

"What is it?" She asked, reaching up. But, a second before she caught hold, Tristan pulled it up. She reached again, higher this time, and Tristan pulled it away once more. "Tristan, ya betta give me da stupid letter," she said as he pulled it mere millimeters from her lying-down reach, her fingers brushing it.

She would prop herself up on one elbow and reach with the other hand but, unfortunately, her other arm was immobile. Determined to get that envelope, she started basically doing a sit-up to reach higher and to sit up without using her hands.

That was when Yugi walked in.

"Joey! Lay down!" She cried upon seeing what Joey was doing. "Tristan, stop making her move!" She looked at Tristan with a pout that probably was meant to be a glare.

He would have made a snarky comment, but that was when Atem walked in.

Atem was terrifying.

"It's something from that place you work at," he said reluctantly, dropping the envelope right on his friend's stomach and glaring secretly at the tri-colored male-turned-female. Stupid Atem; ruining his teasing time. He didn't get much these days.

"Huh," Joey mused, ripping open the envelope with no regard for the poor, innocent paper. She had given up trying to save them long ago. Fishing out the single slip of paper that was inside, Joey immediately froze. Confusion covered her face as she stared blankly at what appeared to be a check made out to her account. "What?" The word came out almost a whisper, shockingly without even the slightest trace of her usual accent, as she looked at the number on said check.

"What is it, Joey?" Yugi asked, walking around the couch to get a better view.

"That… dat's not…" Joey stumbled, not able to articulate the words she was trying to form. The amount on the check was huge, considering she had only been gone a week. It could pay off one whole month of rent and still leave a few bucks extra!

"Hey look, a note!" Tristan said in an almost rehearsed manner, picking up the envelope and pulling out a piece of paper he couldn't have possibly seen from his vantage point. Atem raised an eyebrow, but Yugi smiled. Joey didn't notice his horrible acting, too busy gaping at the check. "Joey?" Said blond didn't respond. "Hey, Joe!" He was once again ignored, but his shouting brought some of the other residents (namely Ryo, Malik, and Kaiba) to the room. "Pay attention when I'm talking!" He snapped, giving Joey a much-needed whack.

"Tristan! She's injured!" Ryo scolded when Joey yelped at the contact. It was more out of surprise than actual hurt though, which was obvious when she gave Tristan only a fleeting glare before returning to staring at the check.

"Tris, dis 's gotta be a mistake. No way've I made dis."

"Dunno, Joe. But like I said, there's a note. Read it," he demanded, giving his friend the blue sticky note and leaning to an uncomfortable angle to see it as well.

 _Dear Joey,_

 _We heard you're having a hard time with not being able to work, so we decided to make this a paid vacation; after all, you haven't had any vacation days since you started and you're a wonderful employee. Get better soon; our customers already miss you._

 _~Kirami_

"Oh…well, if dey wanna pay me I ain't gonna complain," Joey grinned, stuffing the check into the envelope and sticking it into one of her pockets.

Kaiba ignored Joey's "good fortune" in favor of casting his eyes about for Atem. He hadn't come to crush Joey's dreams, that could wait until later, he had followed Tristan's shouts knowing that Atem would undoubtedly do so as well.

Atem, in turn, noticed his cousin's lack of snark and was already looking when the taller man found him.

"Have you found something?" Atem asked, dashing all of Kaiba's plans to leave everyone else out of the loop. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to look at Kaiba; they hadn't heard of any progress since they had been informed of the situation because the only one really capable of looking hadn't been particularly pleased with their involvement.

Seto scowled at Atem, who stared back impassively. He really didn't _care_ whether or not Seto liked having everyone involved; they would need all the help they could get when they actually tried to get Mokuba back. Plus, they had been dragged into the family mess when Yugi let them stay in her house, and there was no way Atem was going to let anyone put their lives on the line for him without them knowing everything he could possibly tell them.

"California," Kaiba snarled, not pleased despite the good news. "Pegasus has a mansion there; it's the most likely place for him to be."

"Wha? Pegasus?" Joey cut in before Atem could reply. "Da fru-fru hair-model dat runs the Academy? What's he got ta do with anythin'?"

"Everything," Atem said, drawing the other's attention to himself. "He's in charge of one of the most important and influential schools within Gozobura's spheres of influence. Only one of his most trusted pieces," so called because _everyone_ was a piece on Gozobura Kaiba's chessboard, "would be given the job of educating the most influential of the next generation."

"Guys, aren't we missing the most important question?" Everyone turned to Malik, who rolled her eyes at their blank stares. "How are we going to get to California? I sure don't have that kind of money to spend. Not to mention that the Yamis are wanted people, and Ishizu can make them look like girls but they still look like _themselves_. Those paper-thin disguises won't hold up against airport security, much less Gozobura's resources," she pointed out. The other Hikaris and Tristan all had looks of dawning horror, Atem looked slightly perturbed, but Seto looked unfazed.

"We can take care of the money," Atem frowned, seemingly trying to think of a way across the ocean quickly without an airplane. He ignored how Seto's mouth pulled into a sneer at the implication that their emergency money would be used to drag the Hikaris across the ocean.

"Gozobura has not made our departure common knowledge. He doesn't need to; he already knows exactly where we're headed. It's unlikely he's told anyone, even his associates. He _wants_ us to get to the mansion, because then we'll all be in one place and he won't have to expend resources looking for us. I know someone who can get us across," Seto sneered, not liking having to rely on someone loyal to his adoptive father.

"Woah! No, wait a minute!" Tristan snapped suddenly, recovering from momentary shock to glare at everyone present. "You didn't tell me you were going to California! Or that you were breaking someone out of Kaiba-jail! I did _not_ agree to let you do that!" He raged at Joey, who glared right back at him.

"Ya ain't da boss a' me, I don' need ya permission fa anything! Plus, I didn't know where we were goin', and da guy's just a kid!"

"Fine! Then I'm coming with you; can't let you get yourself killed out there," Tristan stated stubbornly.

"We need someone to stay here, Tristan," Atem stated carefully, taking a step slightly between the arguing friends. No one really knew Tristan all too well; he was mostly just Joey's friend, but he had a positive acquaintance relationship with all but Seto. "While we're gone we have to know what's happening at the school and around Gozobura's immediate vicinity, so I thought we could leave you and Joey here, since she's still injured, to report."

"I ain't stayin' here!" Joey snarled, "I said I'd get the squirt, and Imma do that!"

"It makes sense, Joey," Yugi began hesitantly.

"Ya can't make me!" Joey shot back.

The loud and explosive discussion continued for over two hours, with Joey insisting she come along and everyone else against the idea until Joey's tenacious and stubborn refusal to yield finally got everyone to give up attempting to tell her what to do. It was decided that the Hikaris and Yamis would be going to California, once Seto made contact with the person he thought would take them, while Tristan would stay and report rumors and incidents happening at home.

* * *

Factoid #42: Tristan is a terrible actor, but a great liar. Joey is terrible at coming up with lies but says what she thinks up with such unwavering confidence that people can't help but think she _might_ be telling the truth, and "acts" mostly by distracting people from the issue at hand.


	42. The Contact

AN: Just wanna thank everyone that reviewed; you guys really help me get off my butt and write some more!

* * *

"Who exactly did you contact?" Atem asked the next day as they readied to leave. They had allowed the glamour to wear off overnight to avoid the questions about how they did it and because where they were going wearing the disguises would only give away how they had been hiding, not hide them more effectively.

"He should be here shortly," Seto replied, standing just to the side of one of the game shop windows and watching the street.

"That's not an answer," Bakura scowled. He, Atem, and Marik had been trying to think of who the tallest could have called for this favor, seeing as they all knew the same contacts. Bakura couldn't think of a single person he would not mind owing a favor to, and he was especially leery of interacting at all with any of _those_ contacts. The Hikaris, on the other hand, hadn't even tried to ask about who the contact was because they thought it was highly unlikely that they knew one of Gozobura's lackeys.

His statement was ignored in favor of looking at the rather large vehicle with tinted windows that had just pulled up to the game shop.

"This is us," Seto declared, and they all exited the building and climbed into the car. Though, not without Joey continually muttering about how she didn't trust whoever this was. The interior was built like a limousine, despite the exterior looking more like a large jeep, with the seats behind the driver's all set in a circle.

"Is this your contact?" Marik asked, staring unabashedly at the man driving the car. He didn't recognize him, which was weird.

"No. He'll meet us at the jet. You'll all know him when you see him."

"A jet?" Joey asked, pulled out of her dark mutterings with an excited-puppy look.

"Yes," Seto responded after a moment of shocked silence. He hadn't expected Joey to _ever_ look at him with anything less than a heart-stopping glare. "He owns a private one."

"Rich people," she scoffed and looked pointedly out the window, but couldn't quite force the grin off of her face.

Seto found himself staring a bit- which he quickly rectified when he noticed Marik and Malik wiggling their eyebrows at him. Those two were practically identical, how they hadn't figured out they were soulmates was beyond him.

The rest of the car ride was spent in relative silence, with a few small conversations breaking out to pass the time (most of them started by Joey, all of them avoided by Kaiba).

"I thought you said we were taking a private jet," Ryo asked, confused, when the car began pulling into the local airport.

"We are," Seto replied shortly.

"All airplanes have to be kept _somewhere_ , and there has to be a runway for them to take off of," Bakura explained. He looked put upon, as if unbelieving that his Hikari didn't already _know_ that, but still took the time to explain. Which earned him a smile, which he turned away from with a huff to hide his faint blush.

The car finally pulled to a stop inside a hangar with a small jet inside, and a lone man standing beside it.

A man with black hair, dressed entirely in red and black.

"Aw no, not _him_ ," Joey groaned, sinking down in her seat. Seto smirked; besides the easy transportation, this was another reason for calling Duke Devlin.

When the car stopped in front of their sponsor, the Yamis, led by Seto, were the first to step out. The Hikaris followed after, Joey doing her darndest to stay behind Seto and out of Duke's sight.

"So these are the eight I'm taking over?" Everyone hoped that by that he meant his _jet_ was taking them and he'd stay behind. "You didn't say _he'd_ be one of them," Duke continued with a small sneer, talking to Seto but waving his hand towards Joey. "What?" He asked with a smug look in response to their small sounds of protest, "you didn't really think that putting on some fake boobs would make you unrecognizable, did you? Though," he pointedly ran his eyes over the four Hikaris chests before smirking again, "I commend the realism."

Atem, despite wanting to pulverize Duke just as much, subtly stopped Marik and Bakura from pouncing. Malik shrugged, pretending not to be bothered while crossing her arms defensively, while Ryo and Yugi blushed red and averted their eyes. Joey stepped pointedly in front of the other Hikaris while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge Duke's presence.

"What the Mutt does is none of your concern," Seto said in such an icy tone that Duke almost took a step back, ignoring Joey's muffled complaint (muffled because Malik had taken it upon herself to make sure this went as smoothly as possible, and a Joey-Kaiba fight was the last thing they needed to that end). "We need to leave as soon as possible."

"The jet's all fueled up, the pilot's in, he's done all his checks. All we need is the passengers and the all-clear," Duke shrugged, getting back some of his nonchalance. He gave Kaiba a lingering look, wondering what he had done to get on the guy's bad side, before pulling out his phone and shooting off a text.

In the next moment, the door of the jet began to lower into a staircase. The process was painfully slow. Duke made a point of posing coolly the whole time while everyone else watched for about ten seconds before they began sharing awkward looks. Other than Kaiba, of course, who made a point of looking completely and utterly bored the entire time.

When the stairs finally touched the ground (after a _long_ and awkward pause), Duke attempted to give a grand welcome- but Bakura and Marik had already sped into the body of the airplane, the latter dragging Malik along. Duke muttered a few choice curse words, glaring darkly at Joey who was laughing unashamedly at his failure of a speech.

"This is my private jet," he began, forcing a smirk onto his face and looking at anyone except Joey before turning and sweeping up the stairs. "It's worth more than all four of your lives," he once again scanned contemptuously over the Hikaris, "put together, so if you so much as scratch the upholstery I'll take it out of your hides. Have a nice flight."

And with that, Duke walked back down the stairs not knowing how close he had been to being murdered.

As soon as the jet had taken off, Duke pulled out his phone.

"Hey, Boss… Yep, they're doing exactly what you thought they would…"

* * *

Factoid #43: Breaking and entering techniques: The only three of our group that _would_ do such a thing are Joey, Marik, and Bakura (the other Hikaris and Atem are too moral and Kaiba wouldn't stoop so low). Marik is the type who shows up after one surveillance trip ( _if that_ ) and breaks stuff willy-nilly not caring if the alarm has gone off and the police are coming; he'll be long gone by then. Joey is the type of does recon maybe twice to get a general feel of the security before attempting to get in without tripping the alarm. If she doesn't, then great. If she does, she'll just go faster. Bakura is the type for near-obsessive recon to the point of it being almost impossible for him to set off the alarm when he does break in (this is partially because, unlike the other two, he doesn't break into random houses for jewelry, he breaks into much more secure places for more valuable things).


	43. Seating Arrangements

Seto was not… _not_ pleased with the seating arrangements.

The jet was a small one, obviously, with seats for only ten individuals. In roughly the center of the area was a cluster of four chairs that Bakura, Marik, and their respective Hikaris had claimed immediately. There was another duo of chairs facing each other with a table in between in the back half of the plane that Atem and Yugi had claimed for themselves. Directly across the width of the plane was a couch made for two, with an identical piece of furniture near the front of the passenger area.

Joey had bounded to the back of the craft and threw herself onto the couch, purposefully spread across both seats.

This was fine. Seto didn't want to sit next to her anyway. He was just… _indignant_ , that's all. Indignant because she had given him a look of victory after she'd claimed the couch in the back, as if he had even wanted to be anywhere near Atem and Yugi and their obnoxious blushing and staring at each other and useless, sentimental crap.

So yes, not only was he not _not_ pleased, he in fact _wanted_ to sit on the front couch, as far away from the mutt as space allowed.

Because _wanting_ to sit beside someone you obviously hate is just insanity, and if there was one thing Seto prided himself on it was being the _most_ sane person he was aware of the existence of.

He lowered himself gracefully onto his appointed couch (he didn't even flop a _little_. No, because Kaibas don't pout) and pulled out his computer in single-minded determination to gather more information ( _not_ to distract himself from looking over towards her).

"How far have you gotten?" Atem asked, watching Yugi pull the golden box he had given her out of her backpack, which was the only thing she brought since they were planning on being back as soon as possible. He was impressed, it was a pretty heavy thing to be lugging around, but it didn't occur to him to ask why she had bought it. After all, looking at it logically, bringing the heavy and expensive trinket along on a mission focused on speed and stealth, one that they planned to have done by the end of the next day, seemed completely ridiculous.

But no one questioned it; for some reason it just seemed natural that she would bring it. Why not?

"Open it and see," Yugi invited, placing said box on the table. Mostly because she was literally unable to open said box. He did so, and was surprised to see that it was a little over halfway done.

"Amazing," he muttered, pulling it out to examine it more closely. "And I'd only gotten one match in all the years I'd had it!"

"I might know why that is, actually," Yugi piped up, calling his attention back from the puzzle after giving him a moment. "Grandpa found some faded hieroglyphics, see? Right here," she said, turning the box and pointing at the vaguely lowered corners of the lid that may have once been writing but now had no more meaning than a scuff. "I can't read it, but he said it says 'One hand to enter, one hand to assemble' or something like that. Which _sounds_ like only one person, right?"

"Nah." Joey's voice from her reclined position beside them drifted into their conversation before Atem could even contemplate an answer. The two tri-colored teens turned to look at the blond who had apparently been listening to the whole conversation (not that they were really surprised by that; even if they did get angry Joey would just tell them they ought to have private conversation in _private_ places, not right next to someone else). "It says 'one hand' twice. Not 'one hand to enta and assemble'; _one hand_ ta enta," she pointed to Atem, "and _another_ to assemble," she declared with a triumphant finger-jab towards Yugi.

There was silence for a moment. That actually did make sense, but why on earth did Joey of all people know something like that?

"Joey, how did you…" the questioned trailed off, Yugi realizing only after she had begun to ask it that it was insulting to her friend's intelligence to be so surprised. The blond took it in stride, sitting up and molding her face into a fake smile.

" _Joey, I have an important mission,_ " she began in her best impression of… of who? Neither Atem or Yugi really knew, but by the way Joey lowered her voice and gave it a weirdly smooth, more like _oily,_ quality, Yugi had an inkling. The others on the plane, who had looked over since no one recognized the voice, had no idea what was going on or who Joey might be attempting to do an impression of. " _There is only one person smart enough, one person strong enough, and one person fast enough to accomplish this task._ " Yugi was pretty sure that Joey was totally making fun of Hirutani right now. " _And you… you're none of them._ " At this point, the blond threw her head back exaggeratedly and let out some weird and strangely haunting parallel of her old gang leader's smug laughter, which got even _Marik_ looking at her like she'd cracked. "Den he turned around and picked out three people and sent 'em off," she shrugged, falling back to her previous position and ignoring the weird looks she was receiving from everyone other than Atem and Yugi (although, perhaps their weird looks were just _milder_ since they at least knew what had brought the strange action on). She was used to being stared at; it had been a constant occurrence through her life, whether it was for being the only girl in a gang or failing in a match she'd been shooting her mouth off about or even making a complete fool of herself to make someone else laugh.

Although, she definitely could have avoided the glances by maybe just telling the story instead of doing voices. Or she could've said "personal experience" and Yugi would have dropped it. Heck, she could've just _shrugged_ and Atem and Yugi probably wouldn't have thought twice about it!

Of course, all of these could haves popped into her head _after_ she'd already finished. Luckily, Marik soon switched the focus of attention to something much less prone to embarrassment-induced yelling. Which makes sense, because it was an inanimate object, though nearly everyone in the universe was less prone to embarrassment-induced yelling than Joey.

"Is that the Millenium Puzzle?"

The glint in his eyes made Atem send him a quelling glare; there was _no way_ he would let the smash-and-grab thief, or the much more elegant Bakura for that matter, get anywhere _near_ the puzzle.

"Don't look like that, Pharaoh," Marik teased, flopped over the back of his seat with a huge grin, "I haven't even _tried_ anything yet!"

As distracted as everyone was by the sudden unexpected grudge match between Atem and Marik, only Ryo noticed the strangely attentive stare Bakura was giving the same object.

* * *

Factoid #44: They left for California at around noon, a flight from Japan to California takes roughly 12 hours. With the time difference, they will arrive at 8am on the day they left.

Oh, and you guys are gonna hate me for the next chapter. Prepare yourselves.


	44. Rescue?

AN: I would like to thank everyone that has Favorited, followed, and reviewed. And I would like to apologize through my gales of evil laughter for the chapter ahead.

* * *

Mokuba sat on his bed, eyes fixed unwaveringly on the only door to his room.

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong, and he intended to find out what.

For the last week, things had been strange.

Mana, for one, had seemingly reverted to how she had been when they first met. They used to joke around about anything from Croquet's floppy hairstyle to Noah's constant quoting of 'Gozobura's rules'; anything to keep them from thinking about their situation. She would stay after bringing in the food and they would chat as long as they could get away with. For the last week she had scuttled in with her eyes cast down and her mouth clamped shut, eyes flickering around nervously, dropped the tray of food like a hot potato, and rushed out without a word.

Noah had changed as well. He no longer smiled; not even the icy, razer-edged smile he gave when he was pretending to be friendly (yeah, Mokuba wasn't _actually_ gullible enough to fall for it, just optimistic enough to hope it would change) that was betrayed even more clearly by the unmoved, cold eyes he possessed. Except Mokuba had only seen the teen who reminded him of Seto once in the past week, which was odd in and of itself since usually Noah made a point of dropping by once every few days to keep up appearances.

Then there was Croquet; the man had never been a talker, and he still wasn't, but he was even colder than usual. Sometimes he would allow some extra food, or 'forget' to lock the door for the morning, but now he was hardly ever seen. He didn't even come in to wake Mokuba up anymore.

In fact, the entire routine had been turned on its head. Even before everyone had gone crazy and started acting weird, the last scheduled blackmail-photo hadn't happened.

That meant one of two things. The first was that maybe Seto had escaped and was on his way to save him. The second… well, Mokuba didn't want to think about the second. He preferred he first; it _needed_ to be the first. But there was a traitorous voice in the back of his head. A small, quiet voice that continually whispered: _He doesn't care anymore. Gozobura doesn't need blackmail anymore; Seto's forgotten about you, and now you have no one to hope will save you_.

Mokuba was fond of telling that voice to just shut up already, and then looking at the picture of Seto he always wore around his neck.

Anyway. The routine.

Usually Mokuba was allowed to wander the halls of the mansion he was imprisoned within for at least an hour between his classes; all doors were locked, every window made with shatter-proof glass, every possible exit covered by a guard. And sometimes, when he was very lucky and had been behaving for at least three months, Croquet and at least four other suits allowed him a ten-minute walk of the extensive gardens.

Since everything had gone uber wonky, Mokuba hadn't been let out of his room. Not even once. Luckily, he had a bathroom attached. He hadn't even been let out to go to classes. His teachers now came into his room and taught him there, and they seemed to have even less personality than usual.

Mokuba's mental tally of everything that had been weird lately was interrupted by the clicking of the door being unlocked, and his eyes shot immediately to where the doorknob was turning. That would be Mana; 6:15, right on time as she had been for the last week. As she had never been any time before this weird week, because Mana enjoyed sleep.

"Morning Mana!" He chirped, watching closely for any sort of reaction. Nothing. Not even one of those darting glances up. Nothing to say that she had even heard him. He waited until she was putting down the tray of food in the same place she always did, always for the past week anyway, before lunging. He grabbed at the wrist closest to himself, knowing that once he got hold she wouldn't be able to escape and planning to make her tell him what exactly was making everyone act so darn freaky. She hadn't reacted to anything he had said to her or asked of her in the past week, so he figured she wouldn't even move out of the way.

He was wrong.

Or, well, he _must_ have been wrong, because she turned and left as she did every other day, arm not caught at all. But he hadn't seen her react. Hadn't seen her move. Could have _sworn_ he'd had her, but he hadn't even really gotten a good grip, he knew because he hadn't even felt her slip away.

 _Alright_ , Mokuba thought as he collapsed back onto the bed, _that didn't work_. And now he had no answers, and even more questions. Mana wouldn't be back for at least five hours, to drop off lunch, and his classes started in an hour but there was no way he'd be able to force any of his teachers to tell him anything.

Since nothing was going to happen for around an hour, Mokuba zoned out into his own personal mind-created reality in which he and Seto had been adopted by a mirror-verse Gozobura who was every bit the doting father they had always dreamed of and Noah and Seto both smiled and laughed and got along.

He felt, sometimes, that it was worrying that he had created such a vivid dream that he so often visited, but then shrugged it off. The dream, the hope that came with it, that was what was allowing Mokuba to continue on in his gilded cage even after all of his friends seemed to have deserted him. It had used to be letters to his family; Seto and Atem, who he knew would come for him, as well as his mom and dad, and even sometimes aunt and uncle even though he was well aware that none of them, even the two still alive, would never read them. But they had taken all of his writing supplies not too long ago, and there was no longer even a scrap of paper or a pen cap lying around in the room.

 _"Mokie!" Seto called joyously as he and his brother frolicked with their adoptive brothers, Atem and Noah, in one of the many rooms of Gozobura's mansion. Mokuba and Noah were bouncing on a plush couch, while Atem and Seto watched. Atem looked vaguely amused at the sight before him._

 _"Mokie!" Seto called once more. Except it wasn't joyously this time. In fact, he looked worried. Why was he worried? Hadn't he jumped on furniture before? Mokuba knew what he was doing; he was a couch-bouncing_ professional _! He continued jumping, rolling his eyes at Seto's worry-wart tendencies. "Mokuba, where are you?!"_

 _This time, the raven-haired kid_ did _stop bouncing. Why would Seto ask a silly thing like that? He was obviously right where Seto was looking. Only Seto wasn't looking at him anymore, but turning in slow, searching circles as Atem and Noah continued as if nothing had changed._

 _"Where are you?!" The voice, even more frantic, asked once more. It sounded like his brother's voice…_

 _"Big brother, I'm right here!" Mokuba called, getting a bit irritated. Why was he looking the wrong direction?_

 _"MOKUBA!"_

He jerked into a sitting position before pouncing into standing and lunging towards the door. That last one, it _couldn't_ have been his imagination! He was here! Seto was finally here!

It didn't occur to him that the door should be locked as he viciously twisted the metal knob into submission and flung open the wooden pane that had held him captive without a thought of why it was suddenly unlocked in the first place.

Then, finally, for the first time in years, Mokuba saw him. He was running full-pelt down the hall, and only around five doors from where Mokuba gaped, too shocked and excited to move. Tears began to fill his eyes and blur his vision, but it didn't matter anyway, because that man running down the hall was definitely Seto, and now that Seto was here there was no way anything could go wrong.

Four doors. Three doors. Two doors. Seto was closing in, and Mokuba was smiling wide enough to split his face in half. Just as he dashed the tears away from his eyes to see better, his brother seemed to have triggered some sort of switch neither of them had seen. Seto was still running, looking at nothing but his long-lost brother, which is probably why he didn't see it coming.

But Mokuba did. He saw the ceiling above his brother jolt before dropping suddenly. He tried to call out a warning, but before the first word had left his mouth- there was an earth-shattering bang, and no sign that the space in front of him had ever been anything more than a wall.

"S-Seto? Big brother?!"

There was no answer.

* * *

Fun fact: I'm a terrible person and I'm not even sorry. See you next week!


	45. Meanwhile, Elsewhere

Duke reclined lazily in one of Gozobura's waiting room chairs, playing absentmindedly with the single die earing dangling from his left ear.

He didn't understand why he had to be here. He'd already told Gozobura that the four royal brats had flown the coop; why did the big boss even want him over?

Probably to stare him down while he relayed the exact same information. Gozobura, for some reason, felt like staring at people with that 'holier-than-thou' look he always wore made them more likely to relinquish information.

Not that that was necessarily _wrong_ , since people generally did spill everything when Gozobura was involved, but it wasn't like Duke had been lying in the first place.

In fact, he'd _never_ lied to Gozobura.

"Mister Kaiba will see you now, Mister Devlin," the secretary stated, barely glancing up from her work. She was a pretty girl; makeup applied flawlessly and hair that fell in naturally perfect ringlets- or he assumed it was natural, since her hairstyle hadn't changed a bit since she started working here a few months ago.

He didn't bother flirting more than a slightly over-the-top smile in her direction; the largest reaction he'd ever gotten out of her was a lingering stare that read "stop being an idiot", and after that she hadn't even reacted at all.

She was totally into him.

No, seriously, they were going on a date after she got off work at five.

Anyway, he stood up and headed towards the large, foreboding door that Gozobura sat behind. He wondered if it was foreboding because of how it looked, or because he knew what kind of person lurked behind it. Either way, he threw the door open with his usual smirk and sauntered in exuding confidence.

"Mister Devlin," Gozobura stated blandly, not impressed at all by his pomp. His face was, as always, shadowed, but Duke could tell that the powerful man's gaze was focused unflinchingly upon his visage.

"Mister Kaiba," Duke replied in a voice that Gozobura couldn't _prove_ was sarcasm, bending forward in a dramatic bow. He had always liked a bit of flare.

"Sit down." Gozobura waited until the still smirking pawn did as he was told before continuing. "Tell me what, exactly, happened." Gozobura didn't think Duke had necessarily lied to him earlier; the man had never been caught in a lie before, but Gozobura found that people tended to give more information while he was staring them down.

Duke shrugged nonchalantly and complied without complaint. He told everything, from Seto contacting him to the process of transportation he'd decided on all the way to the way Bakura and Marik rushed onto the jet without his permission.

As Duke left, a smirk decorated his face.

He wasn't above bowing to those with more power than him. He would do dirty work. He would bungle the plans of others.

He would bow so low that his nose brushed the floor… and tie the fat cat's shoelaces while he was down there.

If he had left out that he was transporting four more people than Gozobura _assumed_ , well, too bad.

He hadn't lied.

* * *

Tristan rolled his eyes as yet _another_ person came up to him and asked where Joey was.

For as much as Joey thought no one really liked her, there were a whole lot of people that noticed her missing. Of course that was probably at least partially due to the fact that she was one of the most obnoxious people Tristan knew, and it was noticeable that she hadn't come tearing through the halls as soon as the lunch bell rang and promptly gotten in a shouting match with Tristan because _dangit_ running isn't an acceptable thing in Joey's state!

Anyway. That seemed to be the talk of the school so far- the four students who had gone missing. Joey, who everyone knew due to the previous reasons; Ryo, who everyone knew because she used to be the Hikari of the school and then shocked everyone with her mechanical prowess; Yugi, who everyone knew because she beat Kaiba and gave Atem a run for his money. Malik was mostly known for hanging out with them, she preferred being out of the spotlight anyway, and they were all even more notorious for hanging around Kaiba's group all the time.

People were also beginning to speculate about the two groups of disappearances being connected. It wasn't a huge leap in logic or anything, but Tristan thought that this was probably the type of thing Atem was talking about when he told Tristan to keep his eyes open. After all, they were trying to keep the Hikaris from suspicion of aiding and abetting the Yamis for as long as possible, and it seemed that was quickly coming to an end if it hadn't already.

Other than that, there was nothing of interest that happened or was said all day, and as soon as he got home and into the safety of his room, Tristan pulled out his phone. Time to report.

Of course, he wasn't about to call anyone except Joey.

* * *

"Noah Kaiba, you have some serious explaining to do!"

Said black-haired boy raised his head at a leisurely pace, giving the irate Egyptian a mere raised eyebrow.

"I thought they kept you locked up," he sneered. Not that he was exactly surprised. The irritating girl was, according to other people, rather charming. He did notice that she was good at wrapping people around her annoying little fingers; that was probably what they meant. She had talked herself into more freedom than Noah had ever had, even in his own house.

" _Where_ have you people put Mokuba?"

Oh, she hadn't risen to the bait. That was new; usually Mana was just _itching_ to take a chunk out of him in any possible way, including disagreeing with anything and everything he said.

"Who, may I ask, is 'you people'?" He smirked, knowing she wouldn't take kindly to his evasive reaction.

"You! Your _father_! All of your little goons that keep Mokuba and I locked up in here!" She was playing dirty right back, grouping him with his father like that.

"In case you haven't noticed," Noah snarled, standing up from his chair so violently he sent it flying backwards. He smirked maliciously when Mana's eyes flashed in panic and she took a nearly-aborted stumble back. "You are nothing more than a _prisoner_ , no matter what you trick the simple-minded fools that guard you into believing. Neither you or that tiny _brat_ have any right to demand anything of me, or even to see each other. That you have had this much freedom thus far is a miracle, and if you continue to grate on my patience I will make sure _it is taken away._ "

They glared at each other for nearly a minute after that; Noah's gaze lit with anger and Mana's with defiance. But the girl was also afraid, and Noah had all the power. She finally deflated, eyes sliding away and shoulders slumping in defeat.

But Mokuba was all that she had since being sent to this prison. He was the only person she could legitimately talk with, the only one that could stop her from constantly thinking about home and why she was stuck in the first place.

Then he was taken away, a whole week ago, and that block was gone.

The only thing that had stood between the full reality of this and her, was the anger.

Anger which, now, had disappeared completely.

Tears built in her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to stop them, but it only made them stream quicker. Her jaw clenched painfully to stop the ugly crying sounds, but whimpers broke through despite her best effort.

 _Not here,_ she thought angrily, _not in front of him._ Not in front of Noah, the heartless son of the heartless father; the reason for her and Mokuba's imprisonment.

At the sight, Noah's face turned to one of shock. He had never seen her like this; not even close. For the first few months she had been timid, even flighty, but there had always been a hint of her defiance in the fleeting glares she sent when she thought his back was turned. After that she'd had a smile; gotten bolder. She was usually politely rude (if that made any sense), since she was friends with Mokuba and the idiot child actually thought he and Noah were something like siblings so he wouldn't like it if she was openly mean.

Now here she was, tears streaming down her face, fists clenched so hard they were shaking, pathetic little noises escaping her sealed mouth.

He floundered for a moment before setting his face to a mildly disgusted expression.

"Just go back to your room already," he snapped, moving forward and yanking the door open with decisive movements, before pushing her towards the hall with surprising care.

She merely stood outside the door, hyperventilating, trying valiantly to force herself to calm down. With the noise she was making, she barely heard what Noah said, almost to himself, from behind the door.

"He's safe."

* * *

Interesting Factoid #46: Mana hasn't seen Mokuba in a week, yet the previous chapter happened on the same day.


	46. Arrival

Seto was, unsurprisingly, the first awake when the jet began to descend. The flight was twelve hours, after all, and they needed to be rested for the night raid they were planning so they had all been napping.

He looked around at the others, contemplating waking them up.

Marik and Malik were sleeping sideways in their chairs, Malik curled up on her side like some weird cat while Marik lay on his back, legs flopped over his armrest to rest on Malik's side. Across from them, Ryo rested her head against Bakura's shoulder; the Yami had been indignant when she first fell asleep, muttering about not being a pillow and how was _he_ supposed to get comfortable now, but was careful not to wake her anyway and eventually fell asleep with his head atop hers. Atem was sleeping in his chair, head tipped back but still sitting straight enough that one might mistake him for awake. Yugi, on the other hand, was slumped over the table with her arms on either side of the precious puzzle that only needed perhaps three more pieces to be complete.

Joey looked ridiculous, as usual, lying on the too-small couch face down with one arm thrown over her head and the other bent behind her back. One leg was straight behind her, bent and resting on the back of Marik's chair, while the other wasn't even on the couch at all. Meanwhile, her hair was in complete disarray, spreading everywhere it could including across her face and even a little into her open mouth.

Not that Seto was staring or anything.

He decided they could wake themselves up, and pulled out his computer to once more go over the fastest route to the mansion. Atem would surely be awake soon anyway, so if someone didn't wake themselves Seto was sure his noble cousin would be more than willing.

Sure enough, Atem was the next to wake up and when he realized they would be landing in the next few minutes he went around and made everyone wake up. After he gave Yugi a disgustingly honest smile the second he set eyes on her, that is. The fact that Seto knew it was probably a reflex that Atem didn't even notice made it that much more gag-inducing.

"Hello passengers," the pilot started over the intercom, cutting off the general grumbling that was natural after just waking up, "we have landed in the Sacramento International Airport and the stairs are lowering now. When the stairs have lowered fully, please exit in a quick and orderly fashion. Have a nice trip."

They did as told, making sure to grab everything of theirs from the jet before making their way off and helpfully _not_ into the crowded airport but simply onto a runway outside. That freed up about two hours that Seto had accounted for being forced through customs.

"Okay, so now we're in California with no transportation. What's the plan?" Malik asked, looking at Seto. He was the plan guy, after all.

"First, we find the long-term parking lot," Seto stated, typing with one hand while the other held his PC up. After a moment of flicking through pages, he began walking away without another word. "Now," he said after they had arrived nearly ten minutes later, "find a car that hasn't been here long with at least eight seats."

After a few false starts (Marik trying to get everyone on board with the hippy van and Bakura voting for a limousine), Malik located a suburban that would do nicely.

"Now wadda we do with it?" Joey asked, though she had a sneaking suspicion she knew the answer.

"Who can hotwire a car?"

Marik and Bakura's hands shot up without hesitation. Joey, making a conscious effort to not look like she was purposefully avoiding eye contact, half-raised her hand and looked at the asphalt.

Ryo, who had turned beet red and glanced around as if afraid someone would see, raised her hand briefly in an awkward wave, let it hover there for a moment, and then dropped it when she saw that everyone was looking at her. Most looked confused or scandalized, but Bakura looked like he'd just won the lottery.

"My dad was a mechanic; sometimes the people that called lost their keys…" She said defensively.

"You are in charge of getting that car running," Seto declared. "Mutt, help her." Bakura was looking much too pleased, and Seto had an inkling that Marik's breaking-and-entering actually involved breaking things. Joey muttered a comment about not being a mutt under her breath, but still approached the car with Ryo.

As the two worked on the car (Ryo getting the locked door open with almost worrying ease and Joey supplying a running stream of reminders and tips for more effectively stealing a car), Seto supplied the basic plan.

"Pegasus' mansion is only a two hour drive from this airport, but we will be waiting until dark to break in since no doubt there will be guards and other security measures. The mansion is only about five minutes' walk away from the nearest town, so through the day we'll rotate keeping an eye on the mansion in pairs to get a better idea of the security. The rest of us will be in the town, and around an hour after sunset will be when we break in."

"We got it!" Joey called from the car only a moment after the engine came to life. The group turned to see Ryo looking like a normal person in the front seat, while Joey sat on the passenger's side hanging halfway through the window since she was sitting precariously on the ledge and instead of doing the smart thing (keeping some semblance of balance by holding on to _anything_ ) she was waving her arms around in victory.

Predictably, the already injured girl slipped backwards and began to plummet towards the ground.

Bakura and Marik watched with an amused smirk and a gleeful grin respectively.

"Joey!" Several voices shouted out at once, people rushing forward. Yugi was the fastest, despite being the shortest, and Seto even stumbled a few steps forward seemingly without his own permission.

They rounded the car, knowing it would be much too late to catch her…

And found her grinning, hanging upside-down from her knees which she had managed to hook around the window at the last moment.

"Woah, dat was close," Joey chuckled, attempting not to show the others how truly terrified he had been in that moment, or how hitting her head on the car had actually hurt pretty badly itself.

"… Idiot," Seto snapped, though he also helped Yugi and Atem get her to her feet.

How in the world would this plan work with such klutzes as this as all he has to work with?

* * *

Factoid #47: No, mechanics aren't allowed to hotwire cars. That's what tow trucks are for. They may break into them to retrieve keys locked inside, but no hotwiring… so why would Ryo's dad teach her that?


	47. First Shift

AN: Thanks to everyone putting up with my long-windedness still slogging through the story hoping I'll eventually get to a plot point!

* * *

The town was a regular-looking Southern California cluster of apartments and stores. The Yamis and Hikaris set up shop at a local Starbucks, and set a schedule for the pairs so go spying. In groups of two, they would be keeping an eye over the mansion in hour shifts.

The duos were as follows: Bakura and Joey, Ryo and Marik, Malik and Yugi, and Atem and Kaiba.

Seto had been the one to assign the groups, ignoring all complaints. He only explained when Atem asked.

Bakura and Joey were apparently put together because Joey could keep Bakura from doing something dumb like attempting to pickpocket a guard in boredom and Bakura, in return, could keep Joey focused. Because according to Seto mutts have notoriously short attention spans.

Joey tried to lunge across the table at that particular comment, but was held back by Atem.

Ryo was paired with Marik because she, unlike Malik, would keep his crazy impulses in check instead of just following behind and doing damage control. Malik looked like she wanted to speak up against that assumption, but realized it was the truth and so shut her mouth with only an embarrassed blush.

Malik and Yugi were put together because Yugi couldn't go with Atem or else no work would get done (Yugi went cherry red at the implication and Atem pointedly pretended he couldn't see Joey's glare) and because Atem was apparently higher up on Seto's list of people he could stand than the two Hikaris. Everyone suspected part of the reason Seto wanted to go with Atem was to chew his head off about letting so many people into their plans, and probably to discuss something else in secret, but no one brought it up.

After making sure everyone knew where to be and when to be there, Joey and Bakura were sent off for first patrol.

"Ya do dis a lot, huh?" Joey asked quietly after almost an hour had passed in near-silence. She glanced at her silent companion, who was still scanning the building and keeping an eye on the guard who had just rounded the corner and was making her way full circle.

"Kleptomaniac," he responded as if that explained everything. Then, taking his eyes off their goal for the first time, glanced at Joey and asked, "what's your excuse?"

For Joey was not idle. She actually had a note pad out, and was jotting down everything of possible importance including when the guards made their rounds, how many different guards she counted (along with sketches of their haircuts so she wouldn't double-count), and even a sketch in which she noted the locations of the cameras, whether or not they were fixed point, and roughly the area they could cover.

"I was in a gang. We didn't exactly have tea parties."

Everything lapsed into silence once more, the only sounds being Joey's pencil on paper and the faint whisper of voices too far to hear.

"That one swivels," Bakura muttered, tapping a dot on Joey's sketch that represented a stationary camera. Joey cursed under her breath when she realized he was right, and that got rid of the two small blind spots she'd had marked.

"I didn't realize gangs break into places like this," Bakura stated after listening to profanity for a few seconds. Joey stopped short and glanced at him in surprise. Were they really going to talk shop?

"We didn't," she answered once she decided that it probably hadn't been rhetorical, "too high-risk. We only trashed some places that were gettin' nosy and broke inta middle-class houses fa jewelry."

Not the most glamorous existence, but it had gotten them by back then, and was probably the only reason Joey still had the apartment.

"I didn't think Kleptomaniacs were compelled ta steal from dis type of place," she added, since Bakura had started the questioning. She'd looked up the word, and it had said the compulsion was to steal often useless items that happened to be near when the compulsion hit, not break into high-security buildings.

"We're not." He hesitated, wondering if he really wanted to tell her, before shrugging. He didn't really care what she thought, so it wouldn't matter. "Gozaburo kept me for more than my sparkling personality."

Joey let out a snort of laughter precisely when a suit with hair miming a unicorn horn turned the corner. The man stopped in his tracks, turning towards the muffled sound and narrowing his eyes as he attempted to see more effectively through the thick foliage. The two teens froze and remained as silent and motionless as possible, both thanking whatever deity was listening that they were with the only other person who had experience with this sort of situation.

Other than Marik, of course, but he was just as likely to freeze to avoid detection as purposely sneeze just because he was bored.

The suit took a few steps toward them, nearly giving Joey a heart attack, before stopping and shaking his head. He continued on his route with only a lingering glance.

"Do you think Joey and Bakura are alright?" Yugi asked from her seat beside Atem, twisting her fingers together in an attempt to distract her from thinking about what they were preparing to do.

She would have preferred finishing her puzzle- she was _so close_ \- and it would have been a great distraction, but they had decided pulling out a mound of solid gold in the middle of Starbucks would probably attract more attention than they wanted.

"Yugi, you don't have to come with us. You and the others could stay here and wait for us," Atem offered sincerely.

Yugi was fairly certain Atem was saying the _Hikaris_ should stay behind while the _Yamis_ did all the dangerous stuff after all they had all done. If Joey was here, he'd probably be on the floor by now.

"We said we would help," Yugi told him with finality, only mildly irritated at the accidental bigotry. Because, well, it was an accident. Atem probably didn't even realize that he'd kind of implied that the Hikaris couldn't handle what Yamis could.

"I think that's a great idea. The mutt's already injured and-"

"And you don't want her getting hurt again?" Marik cut over Seto's condescending sneer with a grin.

"And she gets in the way enough when she's _healthy_ ," he scowled in return. He hadn't wanted to bring the Hikaris along anyway. Actually, he hadn't even wanted Bakura and Marik to tag along; Seto's plan had been sneaking off in the middle of the night ( _maybe_ with Atem) and saving his brother without all these idiots getting in the way.

Unfortunately, Atem knew him too well and saw that plan from a mile away with his eyes closed.

So here he was, stuck in California with two psychos, three doormats, Atem, and a mutt.

* * *

Fact #49: I made a point of not putting any soulmates together for the stakeout only because I wanted to show that it's not like "Me, my friends, and my boyfriend. Oh, and those guys my friends are dating that my boyfriend's friends with that I don't really know". Basically, _everyone_ in their group is friends (being very _very_ loose term), not just the soulmates.


	48. Monster

AN: For anyone who watches Leverage, there was a reference to it last chapter.

* * *

It only took about five minutes for Marik to get bored of surveillance.

He wasn't a patient guy. He never had been, and was used to either stealing whatever he fancied or getting Gozobura to give it to him. Usually stealing it was the easier and safer of the two options.

Either way, whenever he and Bakura were sent on a mission, this part was _Bakura's_ job. The white-haired Yami was in charge of surveillance, and planning, and pretty much everything else actually. Theoretically Marik was only there as an extra set of hands and eyes.

Really, he was helping train Bakura's reaction time, and to improve his Xanatos Speed Chess game.

By messing up the plan he got to make life more interesting, and to make Bakura think on his feet. Helping! Two birds with one stone, in fact!

Or at least that's what Marik always said when Bakura was trying to pound him into the ground later.

But Bakura wasn't here right now. Only Bakura's poor, helpless little Hikari soulmate (really, Marik couldn't understand Bakura's taste in women). No one would even have to know, because Marik was certain that if he grinned in _just_ the right way then Ryo would never say a thing.

"I bet I could touch the wall and get back without being seen," he muttered, already standing up; there was no way timid little Ryo would do more than squeak in protest.

Before he had even stood up all the way, a hand was grasping his arm. Surprised, he swung his gaze from the wall, which he had been staring at since the idea struck him, to the girl next to him.

He almost recoiled at the stern look on her face.

"That wall," she said without changing from her normal volume or tone, "is between two cameras that can turn 180 degrees in both directions and are both on constant sweeps of the area. They're placed so that there is _no blind spot_." Well, technically there was one for about ten seconds directly in between the cameras, but only _after_ one passed through the camera zones. "And according to Joey's notes a guard will be passing through about now." As if on cue, a man in a suit rounded the corner. "You are _not_ jeopardizing Mokuba's freedom because you're bored."

Marik was usually a cheerfully unrepentant man, but for some reason the way Ryo had said it, with that factual finality in that tone of voice that said she hadn't expected any better from the likes of him, nearly made him explain himself.

Except he couldn't, because that was exactly what he'd been doing, and she was completely right. So he simply sat down and resigned himself to another hour and fifty minutes of torture, mentally making note that Bakura had _much_ better taste in women than Marik gave him credit for.

And he was beginning to wonder if the white-haired Hikari's father had _actually_ just been a mechanic.

* * *

The Hikari-induced complacency lasted about an hour.

Then Marik was once again searching for some form of entertainment, eyes shifting around in his most stealthy manner, trying to find something to do without alerting Ryo to his deviousness.

But Ryo had been around Bakura much too long not to notice when he started inching backwards at a snail's pace in an attempt to not attract her attention.

"If you do anything that hurts our chances of getting Mokuba out I'll sick Bakura on you," the Hikari said sweetly, not looking away from her observations.

Marik didn't even pause at the threat. Bakura was pounding him half the time anyway, why would this be any different?

"And Joey," Ryo frowned when he didn't stop as she had thought he would at the first threat, actually looking at him in a sidelong glance. That one gave Marik pause, but only for a moment as he considered the damage Bakura and Joey could do if they were working together.

Then he decided that would just make his life more interesting, and continued moving.

Ryo turned to look at him with eyes squinted in what he assumed was supposed to be a glare. It fell slightly flat, as the white-haired girl looked much too innocent to do more than pout. As such, Marik didn't pause at that either.

What he _did_ finally stop at was he next words.

"I'll tell Kaiba that you put Mokuba in danger."

Physical abuse, such as that Joey and Bakura would mete out, he could deal with. It was better than what Seto would do to him.

Seto wasn't the type to hit people. He would get _other_ people to on occasion, but what he did was worse. He didn't stoop to physical altercations, and he didn't steal things (Bakura once stole the toilet paper; that was not a fun day), he waged an entirely different type of warfare. The mental type, the cyber type, the type you couldn't count on to just heal in a week or dwindle off into nonexistence.

* * *

When Yugi and Malik arrived at the knoll they were using as a lookout point, they stopped and observed for a moment instead of immediately announcing their presence.

Ryo sat as close to the mansion as she could, hunched over and diligently jotting notes on the pad that Joey had given her without taking her eyes off of the target.

Marik, meanwhile, was sulking a way back. He was laid out spread-eagle on the grass, staring up into the sky through the trees with a vacant look on his face. If not for the visible rising and falling of his chest as he heaved an overdramatic sigh, the two onlookers might have thought he'd actually died of boredom. A quiet moaning started drifting from the stagnant Yami; the sound was silenced the moment Ryo cleared her throat.

Malik smirked at the sight of Marik being cowed into doing what Ryo wanted him to do. Yugi giggled.

The sound started Ryo so bad she squeaked and dropped the notes she had been taking as she spun to see who was there.

"About _time_ you two got here," Marik drawled without moving.

"Aww, was hanging around a Hikari that bad?" Malik teased as the other Egyptian began pulling himself to his feet.

"That's _not_ a Hikari," he declared as he straightened and walked over to whisper conspiratorially to the two new arrivals, "that is a _monster_."

"Hello Malik, hello Yugi," Ryo piped up, smiling innocently at them and looking and sounding pretty much like the exact opposite of a monster.

Marik muttered something at sounded a bit like "don't fall for it", but was ignored.

And so began the third shift.

* * *

Fact: Xanatos Speed Chess is basically the ability to modify plans as they go haywire. For more information, look it up on


	49. Final Preparations

"We will save him."

The sound of Atem's voice startled Seto out of the reverie he hadn't been aware he was entrenched in, prompting him to tear his gaze away from the lowering sun (which he had been glaring at in a vain attempt to force time to pass faster) and look at his cousin instead.

The look he gave clearly told Atem that he wasn't going to admit to having drifted off anytime soon, not when there were much more productive things to do.

"You've been staring out the window for almost five minutes," Atem chided in response, despite the scoff he knew that would elicit.

And, yes, there it was, just as expected.

"I was planning," Seto insisted in his most aloof voice, ignoring the fact that he hadn't jotted down a single thing on the computer in front of him during his alleged planning session. He re-typed some ideas he'd already had to sell the lie, knowing full well that it wouldn't fool Atem in the slightest. But he also knew that Atem, being the kind of person he is, would drop the subject whether he believed the story or not.

Atem was quiet for a moment, seeming to be internally debating whether or not to let Seto lie to himself like that, before he let out a quiet huff that let Seto knew he was going to leave it alone.

"After we save Mokuba," because it wasn't an _if_ , it couldn't be, "do we have what we need to finish the plan?"

It was Seto's turn to take a moment of silence, glancing around contemplatively as if the teenager serving coffee or the old woman across the shop were listening in and taking notes for Gozobura at that very moment.

"There are some complications…"

* * *

"Wadda ya think they're talkin' about ova there?" Joey asked, squinting as Seto, a few tables over, glanced shiftily around the room. The cousins had separated from the group nearly twenty minutes before, moving to claim their own table far enough away so that prying ears couldn't hear them at a whisper.

"Overthrowing the government, probably," Bakura stated flippantly, not bothering to keep his voice lowered in the slightest. From their table, Seto gave the white haired Yami a positively venomous look that contrasted Atem's warning glare nicely before both turned back to their whispered conversation. "See?" Bakura smirked, taking their reactions as confirmation.

"Bakura, you probably shouldn't say things like that," Ryo cautioned, looking at her soul mate over the rim of her coffee cup. He scoffed, but otherwise didn't respond.

"Whipped," Marik crowed just loud enough for their table to hear. Bakura paid no mind, knowing that any protest he could possible make would just egg Marik on. Joey sniggered. Ryo, not moving from her position, cut her eyes over to the Egyptian who suddenly found the crappy table they were sitting at to be extremely interesting.

"Whipped," Joey echoed just loud enough for Marik to hear, earning a nasty glare but no protest from the other blond.

Yugi and Malik had probably the most laid back of all four patrols that night.

It had nothing to do with the time, or the events that occurred during their shift, but simply because of _who_ was on their shift. After all, the others had high-strung Yamis or Joey (who was always rather excitable) to deal with.

The entirety of their two hours was spent watching the house. Mostly in silence, until they were confident in their knowledge of the timing; that is, when the guards would be within sight. After they knew the rounds well enough to avoid drawing attention, they held quiet conversations to keep each other from zoning out or drifting off.

All in all, it was peaceful and almost enjoyable, if they didn't think about what they would be doing in a few hours.

The same could not be said about the last two hours before the burglary began.

* * *

Seto Kaiba sat in the brush, eyes fixed unwaveringly on the mansion before him.

Mokuba was in there. Mokuba was _right there_. So close, yet here he was, sitting in a bush, doing nothing.

When his little brother, who he hadn't seen in over four years, was imprisoned just behind those walls.

 _Pathetic._

Atem watched in silence as a sneer worked its way onto his cousin's face. He knew what Seto was thinking, because it had crossed his mind as well. They were so close to what they had been working for all these years, it was harder than ever to restrain themselves from doing something immensely idiotic.

Although if Seto was accidentally showing his feelings on his face, something that hadn't been a problem for at least three and a half years, he was closer to the _doing something immensely idiotic_ side of the scale than Atem was comfortable with.

He rested a silent hand on his cousin's shoulder. Seto tensed even more before taking in a deep, silent breath and letting some of the tension out with it.

Some. Not all. Not _nearly_ all.

Still, it was some sort of progress.

"He's in there," Seto spoke, barely above a whisper after nearly half an hour of silence.

Atem wasn't sure whether the statement was directed at him, or if it was just something Seto was repeating over and over in his head because it just _had_ to be true.

"I know," he replied softly, although they _both_ knew what the other said was true before it was even stated.

It was something they both needed to hear, whether it was true or not.

* * *

"Mister Kaiba, are you sure?"

Gozobura Kaiba graced the suit with a positively chilling smile, and the man immediately knew he had made a mistake. No one _ever_ questioned Gozobura, and for good reason. A few gutsy subordinates had dared to try over the years, and sometimes, once in a blue moon, instead of the usual disappearance or demotion (which was positively tame when compared to what else could have happened to the lucky victims) it would _impress_ the head man.

Of course that was only when the lucky suit not only challenged him but only came up with a better alternative or legitimate concern.

Of which this man had neither, other than those which had already been addressed.

So he was going to regret speaking out, even against such a seemingly insane plan as Gozobura had just presented.

After all, who in their right mind knew exactly were the biggest threats to their power were and chose to just leave them alone?

* * *

Factoid: The suits don't know the whole plan. Gozobura doesn't trust anyone with his entire plans lest one of them is working against him. There's no way Gozobura's just gonna let our heroes go on their merry way...


	50. It Begins

AN: Thanks to BreakfastForLife for the tip about which wire to pull! Keep in mind that I have no experience breaking into a locker, much less a high-security mansion (and I have no experience with mansions high-security or otherwise), and as such a peasant in the art, this is at least 95% me making crap up and the other 5% is adding ridiculous things because Yu-gi-oh. You have been warned.

* * *

"This… Seems impossible," Yugi said timidly after the group had spent a few minutes looking over the comprehensive drawing Bakura had made of the mansion. It wasn't a very detailed drawing, but it did include all cameras and their scopes and all security guards around the building that they had spotted. The cameras covered nearly every possible entrance at all times, and those they didn't cover were watched over by guards.

Success without detection did seem rather improbable.

"Seto and I have already come up with a plan…" Atem assured them, leaning forward to point out some places on the diagram.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the group was positioned around the mansion.

Bakura and Joey were about twenty feet apart from each other on the South side, Atem on the East, Seto on the West, while Marik and the other Hikaris watched the corner of North and East.

The main entrance was on the South side, though there were less obvious doors on each side.

All parties involved were keeping their eyes on their watches; timing was essential.

Five minutes after a suit had turned the corner away from the east side, Bakura and Joey smirked at each other from their positions, both picking up a large (but easily held in one hand) stone that had been at their feet since they had taken their positions.

Bakura hefted his twice, wound back and let the rock fly through the air. If flew in an arc towards the security camera closest to him, and the white-haired Yami's aim proved true when the thing fell with a wondrous crash. Ha gave Joey a smug smirk.

Around thirsty seconds later, Joey's rock flew for a different camera and the blond thanked the heavens that she was right handed (as her left was still a bit… off) as the second camera crashed down.

Immediately after the second rock was thrown, both began making their way around the building to where Marik and the others were waiting. They weren't sure if the cameras were monitored (in which case suits would be flooding the south side at any moment) or if the sound had been heard. Even if there was no one to see behind the camera and the two crashes had somehow gone unheard, it would simply be cautionary measures. Better safe than sorry.

Atem watched a man wearing a suit shout frantically into an earpiece as he ran past, waited for thirty seconds, and then rocketed his own rock towards another security camera. The crunch of another camera being smashed was echoed on the other side of the mansion mere seconds later, as Seto took his out as well. Soon a flood of guards rushed from the building, most charging directly to the South side. All went to the South, East, and West sides and surrounding forest.

The North was left completely goon free.

The problem with the security system was that, once a person broke the perimeter that the cameras cover 100% of the time, there was about five feet directly under the cameras that went largely untaped. The large group had snuck past the perimeter on the points where Atem and Seto took out the cameras and now were all standing outside of the North entrance.

"What's taking so long?" Seto hissed. He had been the last to arrive, being the last to throw his rock.

"Hold your horses, your highness," Marik sneered, jiggling open the panel and surveying the wires inside. "Pull the red, right?" He grinned, already reaching in.

"Ye- wait, no!" Three different people exclaimed as loudly as they dared in the forbidding darkness.

"Kidding, kidding," he chucked, putting his hands up in supplication. He had pulled the green wire.

Without further ado (but with a blood-curdling glare directed at the still-grinning Egyptian) Seto threw open the door and swept inside.

The hallway was large, and obviously expensive. The flooring was tile, a greyish bluish sort of marble, and the paneled walls were so light a pink that they almost appeared to be white. Bakura scoffed at the color scheme, and Ryo raised an eyebrow at the fact that he apparently had some sort of fashion sense. Or thought he did.

And instead of "hallway" it was actually three. One branching off to the left, the other to the right, and one stretching out before them for what seemed to be an endless space. Each hallway was lined with doors of varying colors from warm brown to coral pink. From the ceiling hung small chandeliers rather than normal lights, achieving nothing more than to show off how much money was placed into this house.

"This place is huge," Joey gaped, eyes running over the intersection they were standing in. It could probably hold her whole apartment. She also guessed that the paintings on the wall (mostly of a beautiful young woman with blond hair and kind eyes) would probably sell for enough to pay for the apartment for at least a few months.

"Which way should we go? Do we even know where to start looking for Mokuba?" Malik demanded, peering down each of the hallways as if the raven-haired boy would just wander into view.

He didn't.

However, a different grouping of black objects did.

They were coming from the hall to the left, having emerged from one of the doors. A door close enough that they spotted the interloping teens before the group had any chance to hide.

"Hey!" One of the men yelled, beginning to run forward. There were four people in the group, all wearing the suits associated with security guards, three men and a woman. All were running forward now.

Bakura and Marik had turned and bolted as soon as the first shout passed the suits lips, dragging their Hikari's with them.

Unfortunately, they had run down different halls.

Joey had run as well, taking the same hallway as Bakura and Ryo.

Seto and Atem locked eyes for a moment (Seto looking irritated and his cousin exasperated) before turning and running as well. They also separated, Seto following Joey and the white-haired couple and Atem prompting Yugi to follow the Egyptians, despite the smaller questioning whether or not leaving Seto and Joey together would be good for their mission.

Atem could only hope that Seto could be focused enough on rescuing Mokuba that his seeming near-constant need to antagonize the easily-riled Hikari would be stunted for once.

* * *

Fact: The reason the cameras were taken out with time between rather than one specific coordinated attack was to make it look like one or two people could have done it, because Seto's counting on Gozobura not knowing they have allies and thinking that Bakura and Marik probably bailed as soon as their anklets were off. He wants Gozobura to think it was just the two of them when he looks back at the camera footage.


	51. Forget the Basics

AN: Sorry for updating so late in the day these past couple times. I'm busy, and also lazy. Mostly busy. No, that's a lie. Mostly lazy.

* * *

Seto's seeming near-constant need to antagonize the easily-riled Hikari was most definitely _not_ stunted by his determination to rescue Mokuba. In fact, the high-pressure situation had him falling back onto habits more than thinking; one such habit was critiquing Joey.

"It's a wonder you've survived this long, Mutt, without even watching your own back," he sneered, having taken out a suit that had tried to knock the blond out while she was distracted.

Two of the four original pursuers had followed their group. Those two would have been easy to take care of by themselves, but their shouting for backup brought others onto the scene. A group was running the opposite direction of the four interlopers and had cut them off by grabbing Ryo.

Seto had been almost a whole hallway behind at this point (Bakura and Joey both have excellent flight reflexes, go figure), but at the scream elicited from the white-haired Hikari he sped up. It took him mere seconds to catch up now that the group had been stopped, but by the time he got within easy eye-range the suit who had dared touch Ryo was knocked out cold, the smaller Hikari had been retrieved and pushed behind Joey and Bakura, and the latter two looked just about ready to tear the head off of anyone who so much as looked at the white-haired Hikari wrong.

At that point the group chasing them (which had grown from two to five) caught up.

Then an all-out fight broke loose.

Bakura stayed beside and slightly in front of Ryo, fending off and beating down anyone who dared come close to his Hikari. Ryo was a bit annoyed at this. She resented the apparent assumption that she was some sort of useless damsel to be protected.

She also recognized that, in this particular instance, that assumption was more or less true, and so stayed put without voicing her thoughts.

While Bakura stayed and protected Ryo, Joey threw herself full force into the fight. This was somewhat harder than usual; her leg was still sore and took away from her agility, and her left arm was still not well enough to hit full-force yet.

Luckily she was right handed.

Seto also went into the fray with nary a thought in his head, using his martial arts training and calculated movements to send opponents flying, contrasting the rough and unrefined (but most certainly trained) attacks from Joey.

If he happened to end up beside the blond Hikari, usually on her left side, mostly just in time to stop someone from injuring her further, that was a complete and total coincidence.

"I didn't ask for your help," Joey muttered broodingly, sending Seto a glare between ducking a punch and returning it in kind.

"Good thing I'm not helping you then, Mutt," Seto replied stiffly, lunging to block a blow that would have hit Joey's already injured arm. He pretended he hadn't just done that, or that it had been a coincidence, and Joey pretended too.

"If you two are done _flirting_ ," Bakura sneered as the last attacker went down with a pitiable whine, "perhaps we could find the little brat and get out of here before Gozobura decides to stop playing with us." Because Bakura was sure his old captor knew more than he was letting on with this almost pathetic show of force. Yes, by themselves the precautions seemed formidable; but if one took into account the resources at Gozobura's hands and the fact they he must have known where his wards were headed, they seemed infinitesimal. He, for one, thought that Seto and Atem were being foolishly optimistic about their odds, and had opted for leaving Mokuba to his own devices (the deadly glares and positively venomous analyzations of his character did nothing to change this; it was Ryo's quiet, disappointed look and the fact that she was going to help whether he did or not that did the trick).

"Flirting?!" Joey positively screeched, face turning a luminous red with what she would later insist was anger. Seto merely scoffed (no, that was not a slight pink tint to his cheeks at all. Nope. And if it was, he was just flushed from the fight. Yeah), turned with a dramatic flair of his coat, and marched off down the hallway without stooping so low as to justify Bakura's taunt with a response of any kind.

"You shouldn't provoke them like that, especially now," Ryo chided Bakura quietly as they tailed the tall blond and brunette. Joey was peering around corners and slinking about as if she were in some sort of spy movie, which Seto pointed out derisively. He, on the other hand, was walking through the halls as tall and proud as usual, his trench coat billowing behind him in some unseen and unfelt gust of wind even when he was standing completely still. Joey rebutted, quite loudly, that he obviously had no experience with sneaking. For an ex-gang member with plenty of experience breaking and entering, it sure was easy for Seto to make her forget all of the ground rules (Number one: be quiet) with a single word.

"Gozobura already knows we're here," he smirked derisively as another unnamed suit ran into the group's path from a side hallway, only to be taken out a moment later by Seto. "We might as well make it interesting." Joey's complaining (which was loud, like everything else the blond did) about how it had been her turn to take out the suit and Seto was totally doing that on purpose brought another guard to their position.

Seto made a point of taking that one out too.

"Joey! Seto!" Two voices called from directly up ahead.

It was Yugi and Atem. They were standing before a huge, ornate door about twice as tall as any other in the hall.

"Good, you're all here," Atem muttered, more to himself than to any of them. That statement brought attention to the fact that there were two people missing from their midst.

"Where's Malik?" Joey demanded, the same moment everyone else asked where both Malik _and_ Marik were at, other than Seto who was more interested in the large door.

Atem gave a longsuffering sigh at the sound of his friend's names.

"There was this rod…"

* * *

Factoid: Tristan is an alright liar but a horrible actor while Joey is an obvious liar (but by heaven you will not be able to make her admit she's lying to the point you believe she's telling the truth) and "acts" by suddenly doing something that draws attention away from the matter at hand and rolling with it.


	52. An Accidental Proposal

Atem was surprised at how fast Yugi was.

He had been expecting to have to slow down for her, or to pull her along to speed her up, but she was keeping up with him with incredible ease. Practice, he supposed, but it made him wonder why she had so much experience with running.

He felt like he probably knew exactly why, actually, but as thinking about that made him want to punch something (or, rather, someone) he decided now was certainly not the time.

Even with their surprising speed, they had lost sight of Marik and Malik before they'd even run after them and had not yet found them again. The only reason they knew they were going in the right direction was that there was only one completely clear path, and Atem was sure Marik wouldn't take the time to make a harder path.

Atem and Yugi both worried that they were being corralled somewhere, but neither was willing to desert Marik and Malik in favor of a different route, so they pressed on. Also, the two suits were close enough to them that stopping to unlock a door or take the time to locate and climb into an air vent was completely out of the question if they wanted to avoid an altercation. Which they definitely did.

That choice was taken away from them when a laugh rang from down the hall; Yugi didn't recognize it immediately, but she could deduce who it was. Atem knew in an instant; he'd been living with that laugh for years now. It was Marik, no doubt about it, and he had certainly just managed to get himself (and probably Malik as well) into some form of trouble.

The cause of the laughter, though giving Yugi a minor heart attack, did allow her and Atem to catch up to the two Egyptians.

Who were currently in a room (not just any, though, the kitchen), rather than the hallways they'd been corralled though before, facing three suits.

 _Facing_ was a very, _very_ loose term. Marik had thrown himself full force into the fight, as he was want to do, and was nearly beating the poor guards half to death; the two he was facing were attempting valiantly to hold their own, but could barely deflect half of the attacks sent their way, forget returning the animosity in kind.

Malik, on the other hand, was taking on the remaining guard. She was doing surprisingly well… especially when one considered that her eyes were screwed firmly shut and her punches were completely shots in the dark because of it.

Atem immediately went to her and began fighting the guard himself, convincing her to open her eyes and stop punching randomly into the darkness.

But only after she'd hit him.

Twice.

Yugi hesitated a moment, unsure as to who should be helping. Her friend and tentative boyfriend, who seemed to be handling the situation rather well (or, at least, Atem was handling it well. Malik just looked glad to be out of the fight; she'd always been more of a book person), or the two guards that Marik was pounding on indiscriminately.

It took her a mere half second to realize that was an idiotic question in their situation; of _course_ those poor, hapless guards needed more help. She decided, though, that it would be easier for Malik to calm him than it would be for her, what with the two being soulmates and all.

Yes, she knew. It seemed, more and more, that everyone knew _except_ for Marik, not that not knowing stopped him from being significantly more kind to her than he was to anyone else. It was a wonder he hadn't noticed yet.

"Marik Namu, you stop that right now!" Yugi blinked in surprise at the sheer amount of exasperation that Malik had managed to cram into those seven words. Having pointed out to Malik what Marik was currently doing, she had expected something… else. She wasn't sure what exactly.

More drama, maybe? Or less dramatic. The yell was very dramatic considering who had emitted it, but at the same time that was all it took to get Marik to knock it off already.

So less dramatic, but also much more drawn out. Yes, that's what Yugi had expected.

So Marik was pouting, and also perhaps cowering just a bit, as Malik stared disapprovingly at him and lectured him on what she seemed to think fight etiquette was. As Yugi heard, it basically all boiled down to "just knock the guy out already, you're just giving him brain damage now."

Atem was still fighting the surprisingly efficient guard while the others were distracted.

Unfortunately, that was when the two who had been chasing them from when their eight-person group split up decided to show up. Then, upon seeing their comrade both fighting a teenager and seeming to be beginning to lose to said teen, attacked without warning. Atem, with nothing more than a surprised grunt, was sent flailing into a wall. His head hit hard, and the world began to tilt; he managed to slide down the wall into a sitting position, despite his mind screaming at him that he had to protect Yugi.

Protecting Yugi should be first. The floor wasn't even tilting that much. There are _three_ of them now, would even Marik be able to escape attacking three trained men unscathed. Would he be able to keep Yugi safe if he were knocked out? No, no he wouldn't, so Atem was just going to have to-

 ** _CLANG!_**

Atem's thoughts about how he needed to protect Yugi screeched to a halt, attempting to process what had just happened.

"Leave him alone!" Yugi had yelled at the suit who had shoved Atem into the wall in the first place, just as she had jumped up and clocked him on the head with… a frying pan?

Where the heck had she gotten a frying pan from?

Ah, right. Kitchen.

Just as the frying pan weapon was processed, the other parts seemed to become real somehow.

Yugi. Sweet, innocent little (little like could-ride-an-average-sized- _dog_ kind of little) Yugi… had just jump-tackled an over-six-foot tall man and disoriented him, if not knocked him out. Atem was attempting to regain his bearings (*coughcough* _Staring at Yugi_ *coughcough*) so he hadn't noticed if the man was down or not.

Somehwere, from the deepest deapths of his confused mind, he managed to find two words that seemed to completely convey his feeling at this new side of Yugi.

"Marry me," he breathed out.

But then his ears heard the words his mouth had said, and everything was suddenly very confusing because that was _not_ what he had meant to say.

"What?" Yugi asked, looking at Atem with wide eyes (Marik and Malik had taken up goon duty).

"What?" Atem replied in the exact same manner.

They stared, awkwardly, for a good fifteen seconds before Marik finally snapped out that if they weren't going to help they should at least get a room; this knocked them both out of their stupor, and the impromptu proposal was treated as an effect of his head trauma. Which, to be quite honest, it probably was.

Not long after they were once again on the move, though at a much more sedate pace. Still it seemed they were being driven towards something. In fact, Atem and Yugi had just been discussing the fact when Malik called out, "Marik, don't touch that!"

* * *

Fact: Atem and Yugi will probably discuss the marry me thing at a much later date in private and maybe it will become a favorite party story much much later, but for now both Marik and Malik are threatened with death if they so much as breathe a word and both of them have agreed to wait for a less frakishly dangerous situation to _possibly_ discuss it.


	53. No Excuse

Malik had looked away for two seconds.

 _Two seconds._

And in that minuscule span of time, Marik had managed to do something incredibly idiotic.

Well, it could have been worse, considering who it was. Marik had gotten in _much_ more trouble than he was in right now... Although, when Malik took into account the fact that they were in the middle of Pegasus' mansion... and that said flamboyant man was working for Gozobura... and the fact that this entire thing might be a huge trap...

Alright, maybe it couldn't get much worse.

She'd been distracted by Yugi and Atem's conversation; it had occurred to her before that there had only been one obvious way to go no matter where they ran, but she'd been so busy trying not to fall flat on her face (darn Marik refused to slow down the tiniest bit, though considering where they were that might not have been a bad choice) that she hadn't realized the implications. It _had_ been bothering her, but until Yugi brought it up it hadn't even occurred to her that they might have been being corralled somewhere.

So enthralled and appalled at the very idea was she that she didn't notice that Marik had slipped away.

That is, until she turned to ask him if corralling a group of teenagers into a death trap could possibly be in Gozobura's repertoire (he probably would have shrugged and started humming).

"Marik?" She barely breathed out, for a second fearing that he had somehow been whisked away by some goons from one of the many doors lining the halls. The most amazing part about that would have been keeping him quiet through the kidnapping; if that was what happened she would hunt his captors down only to find the secret of shutting him up.

But that wasn't what had happened.

What had happened was so, _so_ much worse.

Marik had spotted something shiny and, like the ADHD impulse-challenged toddler he was inside, he had immediately dashed towards it with that manic gleam in his eye that undoubtedly meant that he had lost all sense of self control.

He had run off into a room; the only open room they had seen so far. That, in itself, was worrying enough. But the fact that it was a room with a shiny, and not just shiny, a _gold_ , object just sitting inside on a table like it had been overlooked like some common appliance when the freaking thing was at least three feet long made the fact that room was a trap so blaringly obvious that Malik nearly yelled at him and risked drawing attention from any suits that could possibly be patrolling nearby.

When he reached for the rod like a freaking idiot, she actually did yell at him.

"Marik, don't touch that!"

But by the time she'd said it, he was already picking the winged, golden, _very obviously bait_ off of the table. At the same time she yelled, Atem and Yugi turned, Yugi's eyes widening in surprise while Atem's narrowed in annoyance. Just as all three of them took a step towards the room, a metal grate slammed down from inside the door frame, trapping the Egyptian teen inside.

At the same time the grate was dropping Marik's face turned into a perfect image of betrayed surprise before falling into plain anger.

"It isn't even real!" He snapped angrily, throwing the rod to the ground with such force that one of the golden wings snapped off completely. Sure enough, below the golden coat the thing was made purely of cheap wood.

"Serves you right!" Malik replied just as angrily, glaring into the cage he had gotten himself trapped in.

"We have to get him out," Yugi fretted, looking at the metal blockade as if it would suddenly grow a doorknob. That, obviously, did not happen.

"We also have to get Mokuba out," Malik replied, rolling her eyes at the panicked squeak that declaration elicited from Yugi. "You two go find the others. I'll stay here with this idiot," she ignored the strangled denial that came from the cage in favor of smiling innocently at Atem and Yugi. "Don't worry, we'll figure out a way to get him out and meet you before we need to escape."

The two hovered only a moment before Atem nodded solemnly and turned away. When Yugi saw him begin to leave she cast one more worried look at Marik in his cage (he was breaking the rod into splinters, looking more annoyed than scared), and then ran after Atem's retreating form.

They turned the corner just as Malik started berating Marik for what sounded like every decision he had ever made in her presence.

"Do you think we'll just happen to run into the others? Are they even still together still, or did one of them get trapped too?" Yugi asked rhetorically, since there was no way Atem could possibly know the answers.

"Yes," he answered anyway, "if we're being corralled somewhere I don't doubt that they are as well, most likely to the same place. But even if there were traps like that set up along their route I don't think any of them would fall for it. Even though Bakura is the kleptomaniac, he has much better self control than Marik does."

Yugi nodded solemnly, jogging calmly to keep up with Atem's quick pace without a problem.

That is until he suddenly stopped, and Yugi wasn't paying attention so she bumped into him.

"Sorry," they muttered in unison.

"Look Yugi," Atem continued, gesturing to the sight that had made him stop. It was a door, but not like any door that they had passed in the mansion before. It was huge, at least twice as tall as any other door and more ornate in that it wasn't just plain wood and flanked by two completely average doors on either side that made it stand out all the more.

Before they could ponder the significance of such a door, there was a commotion from the hallway they hadn't traveled down yet. Two figures were sprinting towards them.

"Joey! Seto!"

* * *

Fact: The reason Malik started listing things Marik had done wrong (which was jokingly everything since she had met him) was because she made a comment about him always getting into trouble and he denied it.


	54. Arbitrary Distractions

AN: **_I LIVE!_**

So... uh... please don't hurt me? Sorry I've been away so long, I've just been totally unmotivated. I'm getting it back though, I swear, and I have an idea of where I'm going with this. I probably won't get back to weekly updates, or even a consistent time, I'm gonna be writing this on the fly from now on and it will depend on my whims and moods.

* * *

Obviously, this huge, ornate door was very important.

The embarrassingly obvious placement of such an obviously important door almost made Joey embarrassed on Pegasus' behalf. Seriously, she knew the guy had no chill, but would it have killed him to make it just a _little_ harder for them?

Bakura was having similar thoughts, glaring at the garish door. What the heck was the fun of _stealing_ things when it was _this easy_?

Yugi and Atem were both looking at the door like it was some kind of trap. It couldn't be this easy. Yugi didn't know Pegasus all that well, but Atem had interacted with him more than once and- it just couldn't be this easy. Pegasus acted like an idiot, yes, but Atem knew he was more cunning than most people gave him credit for. Definitely cunning enough to realize this door was the most obvious thing in his mansion.

So either this was a trap, or it was another way of corralling them to where Pegasus wanted them to be.

Seto, after a single cursory glance at the ornate door that ended with a sneer, turned and glanced instead at the two ordinary doors flanking. No one was looking at them besides him, too focused on the quite intricate design on the large door and speculating the likelihood of it being a trap, but since he was looking closer he realized the ordinary door to the left wasn't so ordinary at all; it was metal, painted to look as if it were wood.

Which would make the door to the right the only normal door in the entire building; the only plain wooden door, which hadn't been painted or glazed in any way.

To Seto, a singular normal door was much more suspicious than a door that was slightly weirder than the rest in the building.

He moved forward, ignoring the ongoing conversation between the others about the door he had already dismissed, placing his hand on the knob and turning slowly.

To avoid drawing attention, of course. It's not like he was scared that the door was locked and he had been wrong.

No, definitely not that.

But the knob turned smoothly, silently, almost _too_ well.

This was the door Pegasus wanted him to go through.

Meanwhile, Joey had grown tired of the long conversation about the door that obviously wasn't going anywhere. Atem, Yugi, and Bakura had been discussing back and forth for the past five minutes whether opening the door was the wise choice, whether or not it may be locked, what it would mean if it was, and every other possible thing that Joey didn't particularly care for. Not when they were on a time limit, at least. Every second that ticked past made it more and more likely that the guards would catch up, and as much as Joey usually enjoyed fighting she had been… less than comfortable with all the moving she'd been forcing herself to do on her still-sore leg. Plus her arm had taken more than medically advised even with her favoring it and Seto blocking many of the attacks aimed at it (not that she noticed, of course, no way would money-bags ever protect her), so she just wanted this done.

So, while the others were still discussing, Joey limped forward and tried the knob.

"It's locked ya nerds," she rolled her eyes spectacularly, movement from her right catching her attention mid-role. "But that one ain't," she said dryly as she saw the tail of Seto's coat swish out of sight.

"Joey, where are you going?" Yugi asked, mildly alarmed when her friend began into the doorway without much thought.

"Afta Mokuba, an' away from dose guards ova there," Joey replied, pointing out a duo of the black-clad guards that had just turned the corner and hadn't seen their group yet. She then proceeded into the hallway behind the doorway ( _not_ because Seto had gone in there and she trusted his judgement or anything like that, it's just that he was usually right about things), knowing that the others would follow.

The four remaining in the hallway spared a moment to look questioningly at each other, but Joey was right. There were guards coming towards them, it was a miracle they hadn't been spotted already, and they had no time to pick the lock of a different door.

The four slipped in, Atem last, and he closed the door as quietly as he could before following the others down the straight and doorless hallway.

* * *

Marik and Malik had been engaged in a staring contest for the past minute.

Malik wasn't sure exactly _why_ Marik had decided this was the best use of their time at the moment, but he had been pouting since she thoroughly rebuked him for his stupidity and refused to talk or make eye contact. Before the staring contest he had just plopped himself on the floor and passed the time by gathering every splintered piece of the fake-golden rod, clutching it to him, and then glaring at them as if they had gotten him into the situation rather than his own idiocy.

Then after a while he had looked up at Malik, who had stopped trying to talk to him and settled for glaring because he was being childish, and just stared.

She attempted to start a conversation, perhaps on a way to get him out of the cage he'd gotten himself stuck in, but he had refused to speak and she refused to blink when he was just _staring_ like that.

Which brought them to the current predicament- Marik curled on the floor clutching the gold-painted splinters and staring unblinkingly at Malik, who had taken up a position leaning on the wall opposite of the bar-covered doorway and was similarly staring.

Usually Malik may have been concerned that a patrolling guard might happen by and confront her (for while she wasn't quite as bad as Ryo in a fight she wasn't trained in any sense of the word), however it seemed that in the current invasion the usual rounds had been abandoned. Therefore, the staring continued.

At least until Marik shifted and let out a yelp, eyes darting to the splintered pile of wood he was holding as if it had betrayed him.

"I win," Malik noted dryly, not moving from her spot despite the honestly pitiful look on Marik's visage.

"It gave me a splinter!" Marik snapped indignantly, as if holding a pile of splintered wood and getting a splinter were two mutually exclusive occurrences.

"Yes."

"Aren't you supposed to be helping me get out here?" Marik scowled, picking at the splinter embedded in his wrist.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Malik replied, pointedly giving the grate that held him in the room a cursory glance and finding, yet again, nothing that could help. "I told Yugi that so she could focus on saving Mokuba, and she knew it. I don't carry blowtorches and wire cutters in my bra you know."

Marik looked at her contemplatively, and Malik knew exactly what he was thinking so she just rolled her eyes and focused on ignoring him again.

Hopefully Seto or someone else would be able to open the trap before they ran out of time, or else Malik would just have to cut her losses and leave him there with that stupid stick that apparently meant so much to him.

* * *

Factoid: Malik wouldn't actually leave Marik in the mansion. Oh, she'd make a good show of walking away and everything, but even before the others had to guilt her into going back (as the other hikaris and Atem would) she would feel guilty and go back.


	55. Bigger Problems

AN: Two chapters in two days! Don't get used to it. Consider it an apology, and also a thank you for everyone who reviewed yesterday; it really motivated me!

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! I am so glad that you guys have missed my story! I actually wasn't expecting such a big reaction, but I'm happy I could make you guys smile. (Shout out to that one specific guest who was really excited, I love that enthusiasm, you know who you are)

Also **TheStoryVerse** : I was gonna PM you this, but your PMing was off so I'll just answer your questions here! I do have quite a lot planned for this fic, so you don't have to worry about it ending in just a few chapters. I'm so glad you love the way I write, and I love it when people review and share their thoughts on my stories, no matter where they leave the comments or how long ago I posted it. So yeah, if you want to reread and leave comments on some of the chapters, I totally don't mind!

* * *

They had been walking down the hall for at least a minute, everyone in complete silence. The others had caught up to Seto fairly quickly, but he wasn't feeling especially chatty. Everyone was on high alert- it just seemed too easy. There were no guards, no traps conspicuous or otherwise, and all felt that they were being lulled into a false sense of security.

So when the buzzing started, everyone jumped and got into a circle instinctively, looking all directions for the source of the sound. Yugi and Ryo had somehow ended up in the middle (their respective Yamis had taken their safety into their own hands), and so were the first to notice when Joey suddenly relaxed.

At the nervous chuckle she gave, everyone else turned.

That was when she pulled out her ancient flip-phone and gave everyone else a sheepish smile. She hadn't turned it off, because nearly everyone with her number was also on this mission and the only other person that called her regularly (Tristan) knew she was in the middle of something so it had to be important.

She ignored the (largely unimpressed and slightly disparaging) looks the others were giving her in favor of answering. Seto, rolling his eyes and sneering, started down the hallway again while Joey whispered furiously into the receiver. The others followed him, Yugi pulling Joey along the sloping hallway. Seto muttered something about Mutts not being able to walk and talk, and Joey was stopped from doing anything but snarling and throwing him a poisonous look by her conversation.

"He needs ta talk ta you," Joey said a moment later, handing the phone over to Atem who looked confused for only half a second before nodding and taking the device.

As soon as Atem had the phone, the group entered a room at the end of the hallway. It was huge and littered with boxes and other things around the edges, and there was only one visible exit. It was directly opposite them and plainly visible- but also sealed by a grate much like the room Marik had gotten himself stuck in.

Atem hung up the phone with a snap, tossing it back to Joey before beginning to search the room for other exits or some way to open the gate.

* * *

Tristan muttered a bit angrily as Atem hung up immediately after he gave his report, taking care to be quiet despite the urge to stomp around the premises to better express his anger.

He _had_ been perfectly happy calling Joey and giving updates to her- but apparently Kaiba had made some big stink about "the Mutt" (one of these days Tristan was gonna clock him for calling her that, whether or not she got there first) being unreliable at best and wanting someone _competent_ to hear the report from him.

He still called Joey's phone, of course, because he was only slightly better at taking orders than his blond friend, and he always gave her the down-low before she passed the phone to Atem because they didn't say she _couldn't_ get the news, only that Kaiba didn't want her _sharing_ the news. Not that he would have stopped telling her what was going on even if that had been an explicit order. Sure, Seto Kaiba scared his socks off, but Joey was the one he was friends with.

Which brought him to the current situation.

Stuck in Domino city while his best friend galivanted off into the wild blue yonder towards the mansion of a crazy person that worked under _the_ dictator of the universe.

He knew where they were going- Joey didn't see the harm in telling him and he agreed totally- which was actually the cause of his report today. Although it was the "middle of their op" as Joey had hissed at him, he'd felt that they should know that Pegasus hadn't shown up to school today or yesterday. Usually he went every day, being the principal and all, and Tristan could have shrugged this off as him being sick or something as most other students in the rumor mill had, but the fact that they were breaking into this certain psycho's mansion during the first time Tristan had ever seen him miss a day at his job? Just a _bit_ too much of a coincidence for Tristan.

He doubted the information would help. Kaiba had probably already planned for the eventuality of Pegasus showing up in his own house.

But that was, after all, the reason they'd left him behind. To gather information.

Officially, at least.

He knew Kaiba just wanted this to be small-scale and only involved with people he trusted (ha! Tough break, because no way was Joey staying home with a kid on the line, and Tristan's smugness about how Kaiba would have to deal with her all trip was almost enough to let him forgive her for doing stupid crap while injured). Long story short was that Tristan wasn't one of those people.

It's not like that would have stopped him, though. He didn't fall for the "gather important information" gig; it had been one of Hirutani's favorites, to get weak pests out of the way. In fact it had been Joey's role until she, in quite a snit after Tristan had pointed this out to her, had actually taken a swing at Hirutani. In fact Tristan would have actually _fought_ Kaiba to go (and lost, he admitted, but it was the thought that counted), had not Joey asked a favor.

Tristan didn't stay home to gather useless information for a group of Yamis on a quest, although he played his part rather well. Tristan had stayed home to take care of Joey's dad. To make sure the rent was paid and there was food in the apartment, and to check if the stupid man had finally drunk himself into an early grave.

He hadn't. Not yet. Although Tristan, like any good friend would, had taken to pouring a bottle into the sink every time he came over. Maybe eventually the alcohol would run out, and Jacob Wheeler would finally have to face that monster of a hangover he'd been outrunning for what seemed like years. And then he could get back to being Joey's dad (a figure Tristan was still unsure even really existed despite Joey's claims) rather than whatever soulless couch-monster those bottles had turned him into after the divorce.

Tristan had, more than once, encouraged Joey to just go live somewhere else. All that got him was derision. While Tristan had a responsible older sister to get him out of his crappy life, Joey wasn't so lucky. Not only did her other parent apparently scorn her existence, but she _was_ the responsible (kinda) older sister, and while Tristan thought she could get emancipated Joey believed they'd just send her straight to her Mother. And maybe a year ago that would have been fine, with Tristan gone and no one but her alcoholic father to connect her to Domino, but now he was back and she had actually made other friends that she was unwilling to leave behind.

Opening a cheap bottle of beer and tipping it casually over the sink as the considered the options, Tristan sighed. Most of all, Joey was just too stubborn for her own good.

* * *

Factoid: Tristan and Joey only became friends several years after the divorce, so he never met Jacob before the alcohol abuse got really bad (he was a drinker before, just not an alcoholic). He has also never met Joey's mom or sister; his friendship with Serenity is completely phone-based because more than once he's picked up Joey's phone when she was… unavailable, and eventually he gave her his phone number so that if Joey wasn't picking up she could call him and he could hunt Joey down. And, after a while, despite never having seen each other in real life, they became friends.

Woo! Family drama! We haven't got too far into that yet.


	56. Two Down

AN: Thanks to my reviewers and my readers alike!

* * *

To the untrained eye, the room seemed to be simply cluttered. A mess of an area, probably neglected and not important enough to keep up. Some sort of large storage room, perhaps. To most of the current occupants of the room, who were searching for either an alternative exit or a way to open the existing gate, that was exactly what it seemed like.

However, there were two who were much more used to seeing the signs of a distraction.

Joey and Bakura were both silently observing the room rather than actively looking with the others. They had both seen rooms with signs like this before. The boxes piled around the walls, too coincidentally uneven, everything spread just enough to be able to cover some secret, but no more. These could be coincidences, both knew, but given the absolutely spotless nature of every other area of the house they had passed through, this was a dead giveaway.

And, given that the door was plainly seen so they couldn't be what was hiding, the boxes must be a time-waster or even just a distraction.

Both were well aware of the signs. Joey's old gang had a room like this in the warehouse that hid everything they stole until they could sell it, though it fit in better since the entire place was a haphazard mess. Bakura's had been in his childhood home, and over the years since that had… _disappeared_ … he had seen many other examples with his forays into… well, rich people's homes.

Seto made a few pointed comments about how they were kind of on a _time limit_ and perhaps _assisting_ (because Kaiba would never ask for _help_ ) wouldn't kill them, but both ignored his jabs and the others strange looks. If they figured out the reason for this room, they would know whether to keep looking or not.

"Joey," Bakura said after taking in the information before him, glancing to the side and seeing the blond looking around with a furrowed brow. Said girl gave only a distracted hum in response, but Bakura didn't expect her to stop trying to figure out what was going on and give all her attention to him in such a delicate instance. He certainly wasn't; he was still looking around even while calling for her attention. "Distraction, or blockade?"

The difference was essential. A blockade was something that stood between the searchers and something important, designed only to slow; in that case they would have to keep searching until they found whatever was hidden. A distraction was a meaningless flare designed to keep the searchers from looking where they needed to be, and it would be not only useless but detrimental to continue looking here if that were the case.

Bakura was already sure what he thought, but in situations that were time-sensitive a second opinion was always good just in case he had overlooked something.

"Distraction," Joey answered after a short pause. The door was too obvious. If it had been a blockade the door and possible switch would both have been hidden by the boxes; the obvious door made them think a secret switch would be hidden somewhere, and the boxes would make a great hiding place. Which is exactly why they would also make such a good distraction. Bakura agreed.

The others were still searching the room, although everyone was lending an ear to the two professionals.

Atem and Yugi stood nearby each other, helping each other shift some of the larger boxes, listening to the conversation because it had relevance to what their next move should be. Ryo and Seto were on the other side of the room, not next to each other but not too far either.

Close enough that Ryo heard when Seto sent a fleeting glare over his shoulder and asked, "since when have _they_ gotten along so well?"

Close enough that Seto could clearly hear the little giggle Ryo let out in response.

He sent a side-glare her way, and was about to make a comment- probably about how that was her _soulmate_ over there getting cozy with the mutt- but the two people causing his ire interrupted him.

"So it ain't in here; da hallway?" Joey suggested, glancing back the way they had come with a furrowed brow.

"No, that hall had no doors, and no decorations that could have hidden something," Bakura responded with finality, eyes scanning over the room still. The switch to open the door must be in here somewhere, _if_ there was one at all. It was possible this was a trap, but unlikely because the door they had come in through was still open. So, odds were, they were missing something _inside_ the room because the boxes were keeping their attention.

A few seconds ticked by, the others still going at the boxes on the off chance the two were wrong, Joey had begun looking closely at the walls just in case, but Bakura was eyeing somewhere entirely different.

Joey and Bakura had both had similar situations that gave them knowledge about this sort of thing, but they approached them very differently. Joey was your basic bash-and-whacker who struck in groups and had to get out fast, although she was admittedly smarter than most, so she focused her attention to whatever was right in front of her- in this case, the walls. Bakura was a thief; he had only himself to rely on, and he had to keep an eye out for any and all areas which might pose an unexpected threat.

The ceiling, for instance.

So while the others turned their eyes towards the ground, Bakura had looked up.

"It's the ceiling," Bakura said, a half-muttered realization that wasn't really meant for anyone but himself.

"What are you talking about?" Seto sneered at the thief, while Atem urged Bakura to explain and the three Hikaris simply looked up.

"A' _course_ ," Joey groaned as soon as she did. It was a simple trick, but usually an effective one. All that was needed were directional lights placed halfway up a high wall, so only the lower half of the room was illuminated. What they had assumed was a ceiling at first because they hadn't done more than glance up before focusing on the boxes, an oversight that this trick relied upon, was actually at least ten feet below the real arching ceiling of the room.

And even if one _did_ spot the fake ceiling, what was above it was just inky blackness to their eyes because they had to look almost directly into the lights to see past them. Someone would have to get up there before they knew what was hidden.

"A fake ceiling," Bakura confirmed, and finally Seto tore his eyes away from glaring at the white-haired Yami in favor of looking up.

"We're gonna need ta stack some boxes," Joey said, squinting up at the darkness, trying to see something that would tell her where they would need to climb.

"There." Everyone looked at Yugi in surprise as she pointed near the gated door. Blushing, she said, "there's something right over the door, like a platform." Another moment of staring passed; they would have thought Bakura would be most equipped to see anything in the darkness, but Yugi was extremely observant from her years of puzzling into the dark hours.

"Alright, you heard her," Atem finally agreed in that commanding way of his, sending everyone into motion. Luckily a sizable stack of boxes was already there, so only a short time of rearrangement later allowed Bakura to scale high enough that he was halfway above the fake ceiling.

"There is something up here," he called after a moment to let his eyes adjust. Then, taking a moment to judge the distance between where the boxes stopped and the platform Yugi had seen started, he took a leap.

It wasn't exactly a close call, per say, but the platform was about shoulder height when he stood on the boxes so he could only get about halfway onto it with his jump. Fortunately he was plenty fit, so he could scramble on easily. Then he began walking- the path rimmed the room, only about three feet wide at any given point, slowly sloping up as it went. He was almost back to where he'd began, except ten feet higher (he was starting to have to stoop to keep walking), when he saw a lever a few feet away on the wall.

"Bakura, have you found anything?" Ryo yelled, the latest in a long string of the five on the ground asking him what was going on. Finally, he answered.

"There's a lever," he called, now standing in front of the thing, "I think it might be a trap for whoever pulls it." It was entirely smooth, but didn't move easily and there was a small crack in the floor beneath it that Bakura wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't already been suspicious.

"Is there any way you can avoid it?" Atem called back. Bakura rolled his eyes so spectacularly that the five on the ground could feel his sass.

"If there _was_ then I wouldn't have even told you it was here!" He snapped back.

On the ground, the five began having a discussion. To pull the lever, or not?

Seto was all for pulling the lever; anything to get to Mokuba no matter what. Atem admitted that pulling the lever was probably necessary to save Mokuba, but he didn't want to sacrifice Bakura for it. Joey said he should pull it- the thief was skilled enough to get out on his own, so why worry? Ryo worried he would get hurt, but also thought her soulmate was skilled enough that he could escape. Yugi was against leaving anyone else behind.

In the middle of said argument (in which for the first time ever Joey and Seto were arguing for the exact same thing), there was a grunt from above and the scrape of metal against metal.

Suddenly there was a thump from above accompanied by a stream of loud curses, and simultaneously the grate opened while another slammed down over the door they had entered from.

"There, I did it! Now stop arguing so we can get out of here before we _all_ get caught!" Bakura yelled from above, "and someone stay back here and help me get out of this thing!"

Well, Seto and Yami were going, for sure, and Yugi probably didn't have the height or muscles to make the jump to the platform.

"I could-"

"No."

"You're hurt!"

"You couldn't make it, Mutt."

Everyone cut Joey off as one, even Bakura, as she tried to offer to stay. With her leg and arm the likelihood of her being able to climb the boxes, much less make the jump to the platform, was approaching zero.

"Guess I'll stay then," Ryo nodded.

"What? Ya can't-" Joey was once again cut off, this time by Ryo's incredibly-rare challenging stare.

"Is she glaring?" Bakura called from the darkness, "Am I _missing_ it?!" He was ignored.

"Yeah, okay, I get it," Joey conceded, rolling her eyes. The group that was continuing sped towards the door, Yugi once more dragging Joey, as the blond looked back and yelled, "ya betta watch ya'self Bakura," before turning and running down the hall.

* * *

Factoid: The millennium rod trap was actually for Bakura and the lever trap was for Marik, because Gozobura knows Bakura's a Klepto and doesn't take into account said Yami's self control. Bakura never would have fallen for the rod trap; he would have entered the room and a thorough examination of the rod would have shown it was fake before he even touched it.

Extra factoid: By "Ya betta watch ya'self" Joey both meant that Bakura should keep himself safe _and_ that if he so much as looked at Ryo wrong and Joey found out he would be dead meat so he'd better keep a lid on it.

Also, Joey and Bakura being questionable bros really brings me joy. Their interactions are quickly becoming some of my favorites, but also they're causing problems for me. Because Seto is a jealous person and he gets angry when Joey makes friends, so he isn't cooperating with my plans to get him to admit he doesn't hate Joey. Don't worry, I knew it wouldn't be easy! I've got _plans_.

Plus: The light ceiling? Not a real thing. I made it up. Probably wouldn't work at all, but it sounded good in my head.


	57. Three to Go

AN: **Quick question:** So this isn't going to end anytime soon, but I was wondering if you guys would prefer me to make a separate story and call it a sequel (later, at a logical and appropriately dramatic breaking point of course) or if you guys think I should just keep piling chapters in here. Either one works for me, but I wanted to get my readers' take; input would be appreciated!

* * *

They were once again running down a hall, their original group of eight having been cut down to four by the various traps placed in the mansion. All were keeping an eye out- both for another possible trap and for where this new hallway was leading them. It was towards another trap, of course, but since they had no idea where else to go, they could only hope it was a trap with Mokuba actually inside of it.

It wasn't long before they ran into another obstacle.

It was another door, once more barred off so as to stop them from continuing on. This time, it wasn't in a large room with many hiding places; it was simply in the middle of the corridor.

"Oh, c'mon! Ya gotta be kiddin' me!" Joey groaned in exasperation. Opening these types of doors wasn't her forte. That was Bakura's shtick; she was in charge of normal doors that could be kicked open or taken apart.

"No, look, there's a corner," Yugi pointed out as they approached the door. From afar it had seemed the corridor only continued past the grate, but as the four approached they saw that the wall gave way to another hallway to the left side. Picking up their paces, which had slowed significantly when they saw the supposed dead end, all four bolted around the corner.

Atem, Yugi, and Seto immediately skid to a stop. Joey tried, but was directly behind Seto and he stopped more quickly, so she ended up checking him into the dead-end wall that had halted their progress.

Seto had much more pressing matters to deal with at the moment than Joey's clumsiness, so he just gave her a venomous glare, which she returned with a sheepish smile, before ignoring her.

"What is the _point_ of this?" Seto snarled, glaring darkly at the rather small alcove they all found themselves in. It was the same width as the rest of the hallways, but only about five feet deep. The question was directed at both Atem and Yugi; although Seto had much more respect for his cousin, the small Hikari had proven herself useful.

Unlike Joey, who he was still pointedly ignoring.

"Look, there are grooves in the wall," Atem muttered thoughtfully. Yugi, who had been glancing worriedly between Seto and Joey, turned at the observation. "Everyone back up." All four took a few steps back, out of the alcove, which allowed them to see the pattern of grooves and bumps carved into the walls.

"It's a puzzle!" Yugi gasped, eyes darting over the lines and discerning a pattern in mere moments. "It probably opens the door, right?"

"That's probably true," Atem agreed, also beginning to figure out the pattern. The two stepped back into the alcove, hands running over the grooves and bumps on the wall, pushing them around and ducking around each other, speaking in low murmurs, as if to themselves even as they worked together seamlessly.

Seto stood ramrod straight, glancing between the puzzling duo and the barred hallway impatiently. He wanted to start pacing, or twitching, or at least demanding that Atem _hurry up_ because he was _so close_ he could practically _taste_ it.

But he didn't.

Kaibas didn't pace or twitch. Kaibas aren't allowed to show nervousness or excitement; they are raised to be the perfect businessmen, calm, cool, and collected at all times.

Wheelers, on the other hand, had no such problem.

Joey wasn't one for silence. Silence meant _waiting_ and waiting meant _thinking_. She was not one for thinking. Not because she had never done it before, as plenty of people undoubtedly thought of her, but because Joey had a lot of things she would rather not think about, and without something to distract her those things are usually what came to mind.

So Joey was pacing back and forth across the hallway, because standing still made her feel useless, and muttering to herself. Because she didn't like silence, not one bit, but there was no way she would talk to _Kaiba_.

"Just a few more moves," Atem muttered; he had only to change three more things before the puzzle would be complete, and hopefully the door would open. Yugi, who had finished her portion of the puzzle already, had been looking at the alcove critically, hoping to catch any mistakes that may have been made in the puzzle.

What she had noticed instead was that there was a strip, about one inch thick, on the ceiling that was made of metal rather than the material the rest of the ceiling was made of.

And, based on what she had seen around here so far, she knew what that meant.

"Atem, can I finish it!" Yugi more yelled than asked, startling the slightly taller teen right before he pushed the last piece into place. He halted a moment and gave her a confused glance, but he couldn't form a reply because before he could recover from the strange question, Yugi did something even _more_ out of character. She shoved Atem bodily from the alcove before swinging around and pressing the final piece.

"Now is _not_ the time," Seto snarled, the last of his patience wearing dangerously thin; did Yugi think this was some sort of _game?_

"Wait, Yuug!" Joey called, trying to rush forward; she hadn't noticed the trap (internally she cursed; _Bakura_ would have seen it, she should have paid more attention), but as soon as Yugi shoved Atem she had figured out why.

But between her still-injured leg and the fact that both Atem and Seto were both standing between her and the alcove, getting there in time to stop anything (not that she could anyway) was impossible and she instead slammed nearly full-force into the bars moments after they dropped to the ground.

"Yugi!" Atem called, rushing up to the bars as well.

Seto took a moment to glance at the three sentimental morons, decided there was nothing to be done about the predicament, and then ducked under the bars that had been cutting off the route but had started rising when the puzzle was finished.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Yugi smiled in an attempt to get her best friend and soul mate to both calm down.

"Ya stuck in a cage!" Joey shouted in response; that was _not fine_ in her opinion.

"I have to agree with Joey in this case," Atem added worriedly, eyes scanning over the vertical bars; they were spaced rather widely, but not wide enough for Yugi to slip through.

"You guys have to go after Kaiba, he's already left!" Yugi chided; they were wasting time just sitting there doing nothing but fretting over her situation that they couldn't change. "Just don't forget about me."

"Yugi, you're not going to die!" Atem almost yelped in surprise, eyes springing to Yugi's in shock of the small girl's morbidity.

She returned his surprise with a flat expression.

"I meant don't forget to get me out of here after you save Mokuba. Speaking of which, _Kaiba already ran off_ so you should go stop him from doing anything dumb."

"He ain't my problem," Joey protested, but she was already trudging away in the direction Seto had headed. Between the knowledge that a kid was in trouble and Yugi telling her to scam, Joey couldn't very well stop looking now.

"Take Atem with you!" Yugi called; she would, honestly, have preferred to have him there with her, but she knew he couldn't do anything here. It was better for him to follow his cousin, especially because Yugi knew nothing good could come of Joey and Seto being alone with each other.

"I ain't goin' after him alone," Joey muttered, grabbing Atem and dragging him after her as well, as if she wasn't only doing it because Yugi said so.

She only had to drag him for a few moments before he got his bearings and started walking himself.

* * *

Factoid: Yugi has an inferiority complex (it's actually a common affliction among Hikaris) and that is partially why she insisted people stay behind with the others that were trapped but thought herself not important enough to spare another person to look after.


	58. Individualized Escape Attempts

AN: Thanks for sticking with me, you guys! I'm having a blast writing this and I hope you guys enjoy it too!

* * *

As soon as she heard footsteps approaching, Malik had ducked into a nearby doorway.

She wasn't a fighter, and she wasn't ashamed of that fact. It's not like getting herself beat up and captured was going to help Marik get out of that cage he'd locked himself in.

"Marik," a cool, collected voice came from the hallway she had been in before. She couldn't see who it was, but it definitely didn't sound like any of her friends. He did sound like he might be around their age though, and the tone reminded her of Seto.

There was a long pause, and Malik was willing to bet it was because Marik had no idea who the guy was either. If he had known, he would have either immediately shouted out a greeting or started cursing the guy's ears off. Silence meant he was trying to figure out what reaction was appropriate.

"Who are you?" Malik would be willing to bet most of her money and Ishizu's favorite dress that Marik was still sitting on the floor and holding those stupid wood splinters.

"Are you _serious_?" The unnamed person snapped, immediately losing his cool.

Marik, who was indeed still sitting on the ground and cradling the pile of wood, began to grin as he watched the teen before him begin to fume.

He honestly had no idea who the guy was. But he looked, actually, a lot like Seto. He was tall and skinny and had a similar haircut and the same hard glint in his eyes. But he also had black hair.

Also, he was looking to be _way_ more fun. Seto would _never_ have gotten that worked up over anything, much less someone (who he would have declared unworthy of his time anyway) not remembering him.

Seto had always been the type who remembered everyone's names, but would say he didn't just to prove how little a person meant to him- Take Joey for instance; it had taken Seto three weeks to admit he even knew her _last_ name, and he still hadn't ever used her first out loud. This guy wasn't nearly on that level.

"I'm Noah Kaiba." At the continued lack of realization on Marik's face, Noah actually growled, clenching his fists and stomping a foot in irritation. " _Noah Kaiba_! The _biological_ son of Gozobura Kaiba!"

"Yeah, I didn't know he even had a real son," Marik drawled, beginning to fling some of the smaller pieces of the splintered rod through the bars.

"I don't have time for this, you pathetic _ingrate_ ," Noah snarled, "I came here to _help_ you and your idiot friends."

"You don't sound very helpful to me," Marik grinned meanly, jumping to his feet and catapulting the rest of the wood at Noah while he did so. Most of it bounced harmlessly off the grate, but the black-haired teen was showered in splinters anyway.

Noah looked about ready to explode, but seeing Marik's insane grin, even stuck behind the grate as he was, was enough to get him to bite his tongue.

"I can get you out of that cage, but seeing as I trust you just about as much as I trust my _father_ , I'll need the assurance of your little friend that's hiding around here that you won't just attempt to kill me if I do."

Malik, seeing as there was no one else he could be talking about, stepped out of her hiding spot.

"Malik," Marik whined, grin immediately dropping to a pout, "I was just starting to have fun!"

"We're supposed to be saving Mokuba, not having fun," she replied dryly. Then, turning to Noah, "why would the son of Gozobura Kaiba help us?"

"Because while I hate that _orphan_ for stealing my birthright," Noah sneered at the very thought of his adoptive brother, but he recovered quickly and smiled coldly as he continued, "I hate my father for giving it to him more."

Marik and Malik shared a side glance, silently sending the message _this guy's crazy_.

"O…kay," Malik replied slowly, deciding that going along with this obviously insane person was probably best for the moment, "and what would _we_ have to do for you to let him out?"

Now that he was talking to Malik, who was more focused on keeping him calm so he didn't go postal, rather than Marik, who wanted him to lose his cool because he thought it would be funny, Noah was much more calm and articulate. He focused on Malik, though he was still looking down her nose at her, and ignored Marik's existence.

"Mokuba isn't the only captive in this mansion; there's also an irritating girl by the name of Mana-"

"You mean the Egyptian Princess?" Malik asked, more than a little surprised.

"Yes, though she hardly acts like it," Noah sneered. "The point is that Mokuba won't leave without her, and _my_ plans don't work if you all are wasting time trying to save _him_. So I'll tell you where she's being kept, and where to bring her to meet up with the rest of the losers you brought, and I'll let _him_ out of that cage. All you have to do in return is save the girl."

Marik and Malik shared a look once more. Malik was unsure if she should trust Noah or not. Marik shrugged unhelpfully and began grinning again.

Well, at this point, what did they have to lose?

"Okay, we'll do it."

* * *

"What are you doing up there?" Bakura asked, for once just honestly curious, not even impatient as he sat at the bottom of the smooth-walled cage he'd been dropped in by the lever he'd pulled.

It had taken Ryo a few minutes to get up onto the ledge, and she was certain she was going to get quite the bruise on her stomach from where she'd hit the ledge after jumping off of the boxes, but she had made it up with only about ten seconds of heart-stopping terror. Of course, Bakura complaining the whole time (except when she had accidentally knocked the wind out of herself and all the sudden he was _extremely_ concerned) about being stuck and how slow she was being was a bit distracting, and she took her time leisurely walking the path rather than running because of it.

She had also taken a moment to wrestle one of the directional lights hooked to the edge of the path into an upwards position pointed at Bakura's trap, so when she got up there it was much easier for her to observe than it had been for Bakura.

Of course Bakura told her to just pull him out already, but looking down into the pit she could tell immediately she didn't have long enough arms to do that. So with a "hold on a minute" she had retreated from his line of sight and started looking at other things.

Then what sounded to Bakura like someone kicking a wall started up, which is what brought on the previous question.

"Checking for an access panel," Ryo called back, knocking on a different section of the wall, "there should always be one near mechanisms like this, for maintenance."

"And how do you know-" Bakura cut off, hearing Ryo shush him. She had just hit a patch of wall that sounded different from the others, and she knocked again to be sure, this time without having to listen past Bakura's talking. "Find it?" He asked, quieter, when the knocking didn't continue.

"Yes," Ryo replied, feeling around the wall. There- a slight fault. Undoubtedly the edge of a panel; she just needed something to pry it open with.

Luckily, when told they were going on this adventure, Ryo had taken it upon herself to carry around a basic toolkit. Not a lockpicking toolkit, like Bakura undoubtedly had, but something more mechanically inclined. It held many small tools, including a hammer, an Allen wrench set, pliers, scissors and more; along with the normal tools that came with the kit, she had brought a very thin strip of metal. She could insert this into thin spaces and use it to leverage them open. Which is what she did now, popping open the panel with only minor difficulty.

Inside was a mess of wires and connections that would have left most people with nothing more than confusion and a headache.

Ryo grinned.

* * *

Yugi sighed, sitting down on the floor and feeling utterly useless.

There wasn't even anything she could do in here; not only was there no way to get her _out_ , she just had to sit here doing _nothing_ until someone (probably Pegasus, she fatalistically thought) let her out. At which point she would just be arrested.

Sitting still and doing nothing, staring through the bars into a deserted corridor, lasted about five seconds. Then Yugi turned herself around to examine the walls again. At least those, she knew, had something to _do_ on them, since it had been that puzzle that opened the door… and shut her in.

It occurred to Yugi that, maybe, if _solving_ the puzzle got someone stuck than maybe _unsolving_ it would lift the gate!

Of course, it also might cut off the hallway again as well, but Yugi was sure she would be able to right the puzzle in a heartbeat if need be so she decided to try it anyway.

She had only moved the first piece (or rather, the last piece to solve it) when something started happening. Unlike what she had expected, though, it was neither the bars holding her retreating back to the ceiling or the hallway getting sealed once more. Instead a square of the floor directly in front of her cage retracted, and from the hole left behind rose a podium of sorts, to top slanted away from her. She caught a glimpse as it was rising; there seemed to be a picture and below that were buttons labeled with Egyptian hieroglyphics. _A puzzle_ , she noticed immediately, and one she had seen before! Thank goodness Grandpa loved Egypt so much; she knew the answer!

Now all she had to do was type it in on those buttons. Which was, admittedly, easier said than done. The podium had stopped just above her eye level, so she couldn't see where any of the buttons were placed or even just check if this was actually the same puzzle she thought it was. And as much as sight was a problem, it wasn't the biggest one. The biggest problem was that she wasn't even sure it she could _reach_ the buttons. She was short, that was a fact, and because of that her arms were also short.

After a few moments of trying some things out, Yugi found three important facts.

1\. By jumping she could catch glimpses of the puzzle (which _was_ the type she had originally thought luckily), and of where the symbols she would need were placed.

2\. Because of her short arms, she couldn't reach the buttons from over the top of the podium.

3\. She _could_ , however, reach _around_ the podium to the buttons if she squeezed as far as she could out of the cage. But she couldn't _see_ when she did that, and because the buttons were smooth edged and largely flat it was really hard to tell what she might be pushing.

Yugi considered her options. She knew the answer to the puzzle, but typing it in would be a real challenge. It was possible that she could end up locking the cage more thoroughly if she typed in the wrong glyph one too many times. She could wait for the others to come back, and then tell them which buttons to push and in what order… but that would mean she had to wait in here until then, and would have to impede their escape by making them help her out of a cage she probably could have gotten out of herself.

All things considered, Yugi figured she might as well try while she could.

Okay, then. First hieroglyphic: Eye of Horace. She jumped- left side, top corner. That shouldn't be hard to find. She squeezed her arm and shoulder out through the bars, felt around for a moment, and pushed the button.

Nothing happened. She wasn't surprised; there were about nine more buttons to push before she finished.

Next hieroglyphic: Scarab. She jumped- this one was trickier. Right side, second column, third row. She reached out and felt for the slight rises that indicated the buttons.

There it was… maybe. She wasn't sure, but what was the worst that could happen if she didn't get it right the first time?

She pushed the button she was kind of sure was the scarab, and for a moment nothing happened.

And then there was a rumbling noise, and the walls on either side of her were each pushed forward about three inches, making the five-foot-wide space closer to four-and-a-half feet.

Oh. Well. She supposed she would just have to not accidentally push the wrong button again…

* * *

Factiod: This Noah is significantly different from the one in cannon, you may have noticed. This is because he didn't die and then get stuck as a kid in a virtual world; but he was still shoved aside in favor of Seto and feels he had his rightful inheritance stolen. He is still rather bratty and feels entitled, but he has priorities- in that he knows he hates his father more than he hates Seto, because unlike cannon Noah he wasn't shoved in a box and forgotten. He has _seen_ Gozobura often in the years since Seto was adopted, and he does blame Seto for being pushed aside, but he also knows his father simply doesn't care.


	59. Between Important Occurences

**To that one Guest who got super excited last chapter:** Thank you thank you thank you! I'm so glad you're finding all the little things I'm doing as awesome as I think they are! I'm gonna try to keep building relationships between _everyone_ (soulmate and not) as this goes on, so the probability of more Ryo and Marik interactions is high! Thanks again for the review!

* * *

"I'm sure Yugi will be fine," Atem said, as much to himself as to Joey, as the two of them jogged down the hallway. He was just as worried as she was, but between her naturally emotionally-stunted nature and the fact that she was gritting her teeth (out of anger about Yugi or pain from her injuries Atem wasn't sure) it was clear that if someone was going to be providing emotional support it wouldn't be her. And _someone_ definitely needed to, because it was all Atem could do to stop himself from running right back to his soulmate, and if Joey was _half_ as loyal as he thought she was then she would probably be right there with him.

Joey forced out a chuckle that sounded almost painful.

"A' 'course she will, Yuug's smart," she replied, still through gritted teeth, although she tried to flash Atem a grin.

Ever since the explosive lecture Atem had received when Joey discovered that Yugi and he were kinda-sorta-maybe-dating, the two had reached a sort of agreement. He was on her blacklist for those few minutes, but after a proper reaming out and about a hundred assurances that _yes_ his intentions were honorable (it had been really strange; he would've thought Yugi's _Grandpa_ would be the one he'd have to assure, but there he was almost begging for the approval of _Joey Wheeler_ ) the blonde had given him a grudging approval ("well, guess you're betta dan _Kaiba_ at least").

Since that, there had been a sort of unspoken understanding between the two of them.

"I can't believe I left Yugi behind ta chase after _Kaiba_ of all people," Atem heard Joey tack on almost to herself. He could hardly bite back a smile, even with Yugi still trapped and them all stuck in a mansion looking for a boy who might not even be there. Atem was of the opinion that his cousin and Joey were absolutely _perfect_ for each other; it would just take the two of them upwards of twenty years to admit it.

Seto certainly needed someone who could take care of themselves and stand up to him (as much as he wouldn't admit it, he liked the opposition), but also wasn't so grounded and serious as him. He needed some adventure in that perfect little world of numbers and walls he'd constructed for himself. Atem himself wouldn't pretend to know what Joey needed or wanted from a relationship, but Yugi had assured him that if Seto ever stopped _insulting_ her (that idiot; even _Bakura_ hadn't been so harsh on his soulmate and he was the one they all expected his Hikari would run screaming from) he would be just the type of guy she could get along with. On a friend level. After all, Yugi concluded, friendship was the best basis for a relationship.

"Somethin's not right," Joey said suddenly, slowing a bit. She wasn't sure if the feeling was about Yugi, or Kaiba, or just the whole situation in general, but she had learned long ago that her gut feelings were usually spot on. The words pulled Atem from his musing on his two friend's love lives, and he matched Joey's pace.

"Is it Yugi?" He asked, first and foremost.

((A while back down the halls Yugi sneezed, and her hand slipped and pushed the wrong button. As the walls closed in another six inches, her face went pale and her amethyst eyes widened.

She wasn't scared of being crushed to death. She had plenty of room, and she had promised herself she would not attempt another button when she was down to a foot of space, so she wouldn't be in any danger.

Oh no; she was afraid of what _Joey_ would do if she came back and saw that Yugi had been nearly crushed. And even more when she figured out it had been Yugi herself who put her in danger.

The walls had moved enough that anyone would notice the difference and figure out the situation; she _had_ to get this sorted out before Joey got back.

And Atem too, of course, but Yugi didn't doubt she could talk sense into _him_.

With the looming threat of Joey's angry and scared mother-henning fresh in her mind, Yugi reached back out towards the buttons.))

"Dunno," Joey frowned, still moving towards where Seto must be, but at almost a walking pace now.

"Yugi likely isn't in any more trouble," Atem replied, although he felt uneasy as well, because as much as he would like to have stayed with Yugi he knew they would both be more useful actively looking for Mokuba. "Perhaps Seto has found another trap up ahead. We should hurry."

Atem sped back up to a jog (as much as he wanted to bolt, he didn't want Joey to injure herself and knew she wouldn't stand for lagging behind) and, after one more worried glance backwards, Joey followed suit.

* * *

Ryo frowned worriedly as she looked at the panel she had neatly gutted.

She had, so far, disconnected the two gates from the lever and fixed them both open, so she could alter the trap without worrying about that. She had also figured out how to get Bakura out of the trap.

The problem was that Bakura was still _in_ the trap, because she was about two sets of hands short of being able to complete the necessary action.

It was just about then that the door creaked open.

This wouldn't have been too strange, perhaps a bit alarming though, except that neither door in the room below _could open._

True to form, it hadn't been either of those that had made the noise. It was a door a mere five feet away, on the path shrouded in darkness, that had moved enough to allow a sliver of light into the room before stopping. Furious whispering floated through the crack, too low and indistinct to really hear.

Ryo was not trained for this.

She let out a small squeak, stepping back from the wall, swinging to look at the pit in which Bakura was still trapped, back to the wall, back to the open door, taking two or three steps in each direction before backpedaling in indecision.

Ryo was _not trained for this._

What should she do? Run? Hide? Take the initiative and attack? Cut her losses and leave Bakura behind? Jump into the pit he was trapped in?

She was leaning towards the last option. At least then she'd be with Bakura.

Luckily for both of them, Bakura _was_ trained for this.

"Stop moving, just stop moving!" He hissed, suddenly deadly serious, completely abandoning the bemoaning voice he had been using only moments earlier to ask if she was done yet.

Ryo froze where she stood, hoping that whoever it was would just go away, or that if they looked maybe they would miss her in the darkness.

The door flew open all the way, and Ryo suppressed the urge to jump in surprise.

"I told you not-!"

"What's life without danger?!"

The words were shouted in unison, as one figure burst through the door and another reached after them as if in an attempt to restrain them.

Two figures that Ryo recognized.

Two _voices_ that Bakura recognized.

"Malik!" Ryo squealed, rushing past the first person and embracing her friend gratefully.

"Marik," Bakura groaned at the same time, torn between happiness that he had been worried for nothing, _annoyance_ that he had been worried by _Marik_ of all people, and straight up being _pissed_ because Marik had scared Ryo and that was _not okay_.

Marik had yelped as Ryo rushed by, jumping backwards and almost falling right off the pathway in an attempt to get out of her way. Bakura scowled, angry at the blatant disrespect and undoubtedly mocking intention towards _his_ Hikari, when he caught the words "little demon" muttered a moment later. When he got out of this pit Marik was going to get a _beating_.

"I'm so glad you're here," Ryo smiled, looking and sounding surprisingly calm for the situation they found themselves in. She hadn't noticed Marik's reaction to her. "I need you two to help me get Bakura out of the trap."

* * *

Factoid: Marik's attitude towards Ryo is _partially_ because Ryo has this inexplicable ability to make _anyone_ feel shame (something Marik almost never feels) and partially because he can just _tell_ she's got some crazy weird hidden talents that could cause him trouble. She hadn't set off any alarms before the surveillance trip, and her constant acting like an innocent Hikari (which she is) when he knows she has some secret thing going on is highly unsettling to him.


	60. Coercion

AN: Sorry guys! It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and my sister (who is my soundboard, muse, and beta) just left to live in France and we won't have regular communication so my updates (on all stories, if you read any of my others) will probably be coming slower. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!

 **Luna** : Although I question the descriptions "weak" "bland" and "no personality at all" as applied to the others, I do see your point. You should know that this fanfiction is my personal challenge to get Joey and Kaiba together believably so they are the focus _and_ Joey is way easier for me to write so it will be more her than him so the main focus with remain on her. That being said, I thank you for the honest constructive criticism; I'll do my best to improve!

* * *

Seto continued to run through the hallway; there must be something down this hall, something other than just _more hallway_. It must have been a solid two minutes already, and he wasn't a slow runner; the ground he'd covered was much too large to have simply been contained in the mansion. Of course, the ground was also sloping down subtly (something he had not noticed immediately, it had taken him longer than he would like to admit because the slope was so small) so he was certain he was no longer _in_ the mansion at all, but rather in some sort of underground offshoot.

If Mokuba was anywhere, it would be down here. He was sure.

But first he needed to actually _get_ to the underground building.

Luckily, it seemed he was getting somewhere. Up ahead the hall seemed to widen directly after a doorway; he couldn't see the walls up ahead, so it _must_ be a room.

He pushed himself faster.

But then he had to slow down as he got closer, because while he couldn't see walls on either side of the exit something was certainly blocking the path straight ahead. He got to the door and stopped dead in his tracks, brow furrowing in confusion.

It was a dueling platform. In fact, it was entire dueling room. The room was entirely bordered by risers and seats, and the center was empty save for the largest dueling platform he had ever seen.

But, really, all that was unimportant, Seto decided in only a moment, and moved to go around the risen ground. A duel room wouldn't help him save Mokuba.

"Ah, Kaiba-boy! You've arrived!"

Seto froze mid-step, the confused frown transforming instantly into an annoyed scowl.

That voice was one he would recognize anywhere, and he was never excited when he did.

"Pegasus," he sneered, more to himself than in greeting to the pink-haired man who stood beaming on the opposite side of the platform.

He was not a fan of the headmaster of the Academy. This itself wasn't surprising at all, seeing as how Seto Kaiba wasn't really a fan of _anyone_ , but ever since finding out Pegasus was directly involved with Mokuba's disappearance Seto had been hard-pressed (mostly by Atem) to not storm the school and teach the man a lesson.

Pegasus was simply lucky Seto hadn't figured it out while he was near.

Seto felt a surge of familiar hatred, a feeling that was usually directed at his adoptive father, and, as usual, forced it down until he simply felt nothing. But, this time, he could do something with that feeling. He began to advance across the room.

One step- Pegasus was the cause of this wild goose chase.

Another, faster- He had Mokuba.

Nearly running now- He knew where Mokuba was.

Almost halfway across the room, face still in his eternal mask of neutrality- Pegasus _would_ tell him, if it was the last thing that pathetic brown-nosing pansy _ever did_.

"Oh Kaiba-boy," Pegasus pouted, not looking particularly worried even as the nearly homicidal black-belt rushed forward, "that's not how you play the game." A button to his left was pushed, and two suits ran in a side door on Pegasus' side of the room, guns drawn and pointed directly at Seto.

Immediately the teen skidded to a stop- he was much too far away to even hope to take them without getting shot first. Still, he eyed them speculatively.

Gozobura wouldn't want him killed, nor seriously injured. These men wouldn't dare shoot him somewhere fatal, if they dared shoot him at all. He went to take another step forward- slow and steady, if he went too fast they could shoot him out of pure panic regardless of the consequences- but Pegasus wasn't going to have that.

"Now now, we wouldn't want something to happen to your brother, Mokie-boy, would you?"

Seto froze. Mokuba, his one and _only_ weakness. There was no way he could let Mokuba be hurt, even if there was a large possibility Pegasus was bluffing.

A sneer tore across Seto's face, giving Pegasus a glare to rival the worst Joey had ever drawn from him.

Pegasus had called him _Mokie_ , Seto's childhood nickname for him. He wasn't _allowed_ to sully the memory of those days like that.

"What do you want, Pegasus," he bit out, despite wanting nothing more than to scream obscenities at the despicable man before him.

"You already know, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus chuckled as if he was having a casual conversation and not threatening Seto and his family with bodily harm, "just a game of Duel Monsters. If you win, I'll let you through, and you'll be one room closer to your precious brother."

"And if I lose?" Seto replied wearily, though he was already walking back to the other side. No matter the outcome, he knew he didn't really have a choice in the matter. Not if he wanted even a chance at getting Mokuba back.

"I bring you and all of your little friends back home, of course," he replied faux-kindly as Seto stepped into his dueling box. It began to rise and, simultaneously, two shackles shot from either side of him and latched onto his ankles.

To Seto's credit, he didn't even blink at the unexpected occurrence. Instead, he opted to calmly pull out his deck and place it in its designated spot.

He had brought his deck on this important sabotage mission?

Yes.

Partially because he suspected Pegasus might pull something like this- always plan for every possibility, even unlikely ones like his principal showing up and challenging him to a duel. Mostly, though, it was just because he always brought his deck everywhere.

"Now remember Kaiba-boy, the most important part of a duel is to have fun and be yourself," Pegasus nearly giggled, shuffling his cards.

Seto had already drawn his cards, and was glaring across the platform as Pegasus continued to waste time. He didn't have nearly enough time to let him do that.

"Shut up and duel, Pegasus."


	61. Secondary Objective

AN: Okay, collage has officially started, and that means either I'll be lucky to get out one chapter every few months (even though that's about normal now…) or I'll be so desperate to avoid school stuff I'll spend way more time writing. Hopefully, for my grade's sake, it's the first.

* * *

Bakura scowled, as he had been doing constantly for about three minutes now.

He could hear them moving around up there, hear Ryo take charge and tell the other two what exactly to do, he could _hear_ stupid Marik making mocking comments under his breath.

That jerk was gonna have a hard time telling his face from the ground once Bakura was finished with him.

"Can you get me _out_ yet?" Bakura snapped impatiently, for perhaps the seventh time in half as many minutes. The sooner he got out the sooner he could get to teaching Marik what happens when someone dares mock his Hikari.

"In a moment," Ryo called calmly back, wondering idly why Bakura had become about ten times more impatient since the Egyptians had come in, but opting to head over to Marik to get him to help. Said boy had been hovering closely to Malik the whole time, doing his best to simultaneously bug Malik and stay far out of Ryo's field of vision. He hadn't actually succeeded at all, but Ryo had left him alone thus far and he counted that as a win. "Marik, when I get the trap to close halfway, I need you to get onto the flaps and reach down and pull Bakura up."

"And what if _I_ fall in?" Marik frowned, placing Malik deliberately between himself and the sweet Hikari who was trying to tell him what to do. He wasn't all that worried about falling in, actually, but he wanted to be oppositional while not getting on Ryo's bad side.

Ryo smiled understandingly.

"Then Bakura will use you as a stepping stool and then pull _you_ out instead."

Marik gaped for a moment, clearly hearing the unspoken "because he's actually _capable_ " before scowling and marching off to the pit muttering about manipulative women and beasts in disguise.

Malik muttered a rueful "teach me" to Ryo, looking after where Marik had gone and actually done what he was asked, but the other girl simply smiled apologetically and then moved to set the gears in motion.

All went as planned- Marik didn't fall in (although Bakura seriously considered just pulling him in out of spite), and when all four were standing on level ground once more Bakura chose to hold off on beating Marik within an inch of his life for the sake of getting the heck out of this death-trap of a mansion.

"You're okay!" Ryo exclaimed happily, despite having been quite sure he was fine throughout the whole ordeal, when Bakura came into her field of vision.

"It was just a hole," Bakura scoffed, despite the urge to grin. It wasn't a big deal at all, really, but seeing Ryo so happy just from seeing him was rather uplifting.

"Tch," Marik scoffed, rolling his eyes as visibly as he could manage. Bakura, about to go back on his promise to himself to wait until they were safe to show Marik just how _unsafe_ he was, was beat to the metaphorical punch by none other than Ryo.

"Don't be rude, Marik," she chided softly, and Bakura turned to give Marik a soul-withering glare before said Egyptian could even _think_ about mocking her to her face.

Except, it wasn't necessary.

Marik, although looking sullen and displeased, wasn't making a retort of any kind. He was, in fact, staring resolutely at the ground… as if Ryo's words had actually made an impact on him. Bakura looked at his long-time friend incredulously. In the years he had known Marik, Bakura had almost never seen him back down from a fight- verbal or otherwise. The only person who had been able to scare him to silence was Gozobura himself.

But this wasn't even like that; with Gozobura the two options were silence or a fate worse than death. This was Ryo, who wouldn't hurt a housefly (pathetic, but Bakura found it somewhat endearing too).

And yet Malik wasn't being unbearably irritating.

"We should get going," Malik said, having finished telling Ryo about the mission they'd been sent on by the supposed "true" Kaiba heir. The two girls stepped forward- towards the Yamis, who were between them and the door.

Bakura felt… incredulous. Not about the existence Gozobura's son. Not about this "mission" and the rather trap-like smell of it. Not that an Egyptian princess just so happened to be in the same building they had just broken into, or the fact that someone related to Gozobura Kaiba claimed to be helping them out. But because when Ryo stepped forward, Marik had flinched – _flinched._ The strangest mix of pride and exasperation filled him.

All those things Marik had been saying about the terror that was the tiny, pale Hikari, which Bakura had taken as sarcastic and mocking, had been Marik's honest to goodness thoughts.

What the heck had Ryo even _done_ to Marik?

Whatever it was, Bakura approved wholeheartedly.

* * *

Factoid: Bakura and Marik like to pretend they hate each other, but really they have been friends since Bakura was caught and shackled- he refused to work for Gozobura at first so they planned to starve him into compliance. Enter Marik, who was already working for Gozobura, sneaking his way into Bakura's cell with food and then having a lengthy conversation about whether it was worth it to work for Gozobura or not. At first Bakura was weary that Marik had been sent to trick him, but Marik was firmly on the side of "it isn't worth it, not a bit. Never say yes."

Obviously, that didn't work out.


End file.
